


Are you a Dementor, 'cause baby you take my breath away

by seodreams



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Co-workers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic, Minor Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Minor Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Post-Hogwarts, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28547943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seodreams/pseuds/seodreams
Summary: Making a new friend in an extremely clumsy yet stunningly beautiful customer was last on Jeno Lee’s expectations for the new year. Falling in love with him had been beyond his imagination.It turns out that the new year has a lot of surprises in store for Jeno.(Alternatively: Jaemin breaks a piece of cutlery every day and with it, Jeno’s resolve to withstand Jaemin Na’s charm cracks a little more.)
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 130
Collections: NCTV Secret Santa 2020





	Are you a Dementor, 'cause baby you take my breath away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ScarletKiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletKiss/gifts).



> hi there ^__^ i'm so sorry this came out kinda late(?) because i really crammed the writing into a really short period of time... two weeks.. (and even then like 20k of this was written in 5 days so yes i'm very burned out)
> 
> i hope you like it! you gave me a really loose prompt for nomin coffee shop/cafe au and Boom i just had the idea for magic cafes... and then my self-indulgent ass went and set it in the harry potter universe :")
> 
> to be clear: this is set post-hogwarts graduation!! i expanded upon the world itself and tried to imagine it in the 21st century ++ what if non-muggles didn't go to magic schools and chose to live a muggle life?? what happens if hogwarts students decided to proceed to muggle universities to get a degree and work as a muggle?? so this universe was born!
> 
> btw: jaemin is a sort of siren! he's a pureblood but somehow he gets an extra magic ability, which is to have a magical voice that can hypnotise/charm people! it's like how voldemort could speak Parseltongue except we have no idea where jaemin's magic came from! (if you've read pjo: like aphrodite's kids.)
> 
> anyways i'm done with this!! out into the world because i couldn't care less anymore im DONE

The synchronised melody of glassware shattering is one of the main omens that’re bound to herald a terrible day.

This time though, it’s coming from behind the counter instead of the front, and Jeno’s partially relieved—he won’t have to plaster a pained grimace of a smile on his face to step out into dangerous territory and deal with nasty customers. A shrill, ear-piercing scream is followed by a furious yell of “JISUNG PARK!” and Jeno’s pretty sure that Renjun’ll deal with this mess. That includes Jisung.

It doesn’t do anything to improve his day; Thursday evenings commonly mean rush hour in the cafe. A lot of worn-out students are either here to complete their assignments right before they attend their night classes or to allow their mentally wrung-dry brains to recover before a full night of burning the midnight oil. It’s Jeno’s job to assist by feeding them magical drinks for the soul, but honestly he wonders how much Cafe Owl ‘n Quill goes against its own concept by making him work overtime.

Don’t get him wrong: he doesn’t dislike his boss. In fact, it’s probably highly impossible  _ not _ to fall in love with Jungwoo Kim (26 years old, unmarried by choice) who’s the softest-looking person Jeno knows. It’s also really handy that Jungwoo’s amazing with charms, especially Aqua Eructo (which is brilliant for brewing hot drinks) and a certain handful of extremely illegal spells that Jungwoo’s made them promise never to talk about. At least they drive away the annoying customers.

“Welcome to Cafe Owl ‘n Quill, where all your jumbled worries will be untangled by just a sip of our magical refreshments!” Ah, there it is. Jeno tries to not allow the corners of his mouth to droop as he forces his trademark customer-greeting smile. It takes more energy than usual. “How may I help you today?”

“I’ll have two jumbo-sized mocha lattes!” 

Oh no. Jeno grins tightly and doesn’t look up as he fumbles in the pockets of his uniform pants, without any success. So instead, as a typical wizard would do, he reaches his hand out for the wand that comes whizzing into his palm without a sound. Thank God that he’d paid enough attention at Hogwarts to have mastered a non-verbal version of Accio, the Summoning Charm. Life would certainly be difficult without magic.

He taps his wand, twice, swiftly against the smooth marble countertop. Faint hints of buttons steadily fade into view in the air right before him, and when he lifts his wand to the air, it’s solid. He wordlessly traces the customer’s order into the blank space resembling a notepad that tells him to ‘Fill in the customer’s order here!’ 

(The instruction also reverberates, rather annoyingly, in his head: two-way communication, Renjun had reminded him. He still hasn’t found a way to get rid of it yet.)

When he looks back up, he’s faced by another duo of female students gazing at him with barely-concealed adoration in their eyes. As he’d expected. After two years of working at this god-forsaken magical cafe which is conveniently located, as Jungwoo likes to say, ‘anywhere within five kilometers of the Waterloo Station,’ Jeno’s learnt to match voices to faces. This time, it had been someone slightly overexcited, as he could tell by the energy thrumming under their words and the shrillness of their voice. Overexcited and overly-pumped customers are not joys to deal with. 

“Any toppings?” With this, Jeno means how many shots of voodoo concoction that they’d like.

“Uh. We have an exam tomorrow, and we’d need to one-shot the studying, what would you recommend?” Of course, they’re lying. Jeno has seen these two girls yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and on Monday as well. Exactly synchronised with the end of his shifts. 

He stares down the fluttering eyelashes. “The Fight-Zs series, then? Since you’d need to be awake for approximately,” he checks his watch, “four more hours, I’ll give you two shots of Wideye.”

The girls nod furiously, mirrors of each other. Jeno thinks they wouldn’t mind — nor would it make a difference — if he gives them twice the number of shots, as he updates the notepad with the extra information. After hitting ‘send to the Cooks!,’ he nods curtly at them, a polite dismissal. They visibly deflate, picking up on his disinterest, and head back towards their table, slumping as empty chairs slide out of their way, making undignified squeaks as they cross.

Jeno doesn’t watch them leave, instead hastily tapping on the semi-solid block hovering in the air with his wand, and it shatters instantly, vaporising into a million puffs of smoke. (He holds his breath and doesn’t inhale any of the heavy lavender scent, props to his previous experiences with choking on it.) Whirling around, he hobbles awkwardly towards a door marked ‘wizards-in-charge, you know what to do,’ wincing as several muscles in his calves groan, in pain with unuse.

Upon reaching the door, his fingers instinctively wander towards the dent exactly three inches below the sign, and he presses firmly on it. It swings open, and as Jeno steps through the entrance. Immediately, he notices three things:

  1. Chenle is leaning against the lockers towards the left, though his stance is awkward. He flashes a smile towards Jeno, obviously pretending that Jeno _doesn’t_ know that he’s hiding something and that he can’t see the telltale fluttering of the right corner of his mouth that indicates that he’s nervous.
  2. Jisung gapes comically at him from his position, cowering in the corner and covered in _white powder_. Why is he covered in… Jeno chooses not to finish that particular thought.
  3. When Jeno leans past Chenle, unruffled by the shorter’s attempts to block his line of vision, Renjun and Donghyuck are—



“You two,” Jeno hisses. “What in Merlin’s name are you doing.”

Renjun’s left arm freezes midair, in the middle of its downwards arc to dump a bowl of white powder that is unmistakably  _ flour _ over Donghyuck’s head. The latter’s right hand is already extending towards the pocket in his jeans, where Jeno knows his wand is usually tucked away.

Oh, man. Jeno’s going to behead them.

He knows Donghyuck can see the pure murder in Jeno’s eyes, and his glare follows Donghyuck’s slow and cautious attempts to reach once again for his wand. He eventually gives up under the pressure of Jeno’s intensifying stare, holding his hands up in surrender.

The moment he turns his attention to Renjun, the latter opens his mouth to frantically try at an explanation. Chenle’s voice bluntly cuts through the silence of the staffroom.

“I’ll just… quietly step through the doorway and out the room. You won’t notice me, and I will leave before you start with the yelling so that I can arrive at my lecture on time. I have nothing to do with this!” Chenle yells as he tiptoes through the doorway in slow motion. The door clicking back into place after him is the only thing that moves for the next thirty seconds.

It’s silent for a few seconds until Renjun flings the bowl at Donghyuck.

  
  


🌥

What seems to be two whole hours turns out to be a quarter of that, and Jeno’s effectively prevented the two from creating any more trouble  _ and _ held a Time-Out session.

He’s always managed to make the latter feel like a courtroom, and the atmosphere definitely works as Donghyuck’s attempts to stare him down while frozen with an Immobulus charm fall flat. He’d tried to fight back when Jeno stepped in between him and Renjun, and normally Donghyuck would’ve managed to get the upper hand over him, being the best out of all of them at duelling, but his vision was blocked by the flour caked on his eyelids, which made it difficult to open them. Jeno had placed a Freezing charm on him before he’d had the chance to react.

Renjun, on the other hand, has his back turned to Jeno. He’s clutching a cloth and wiping furiously at Jisung’s face (which looks rather comical as the Renjun’s about ten centimetres shorter than him, and has to stand on his toes to even reach Jisung’s face, head tilted upwards) while the younger blinks lethargically. Jeno’s chosen to leave Renjun be — contrary to his previous actions, he’s rather unlikely to scratch Jeno’s eyeballs out and Jeno trusts him, unlike a certain someone. Jeno glares at Donghyuck, and the animal scowls back.

“Donghyuck Lee, Renjun Huang,” Jeno’s voice snaps the both of them to attention — Renjun whirls around to face him, Donghyuck’s eyes narrow brazenly — “would you care to tell me why all three of you are covered in flour?” 

Jisung, the poor victim and bystander, points towards the gigantic yet very deflated canvas sack lying abandoned on the kitchen floor. “I knocked that over while trying to clean up broken glass. Renjun ended up stepping on it, and it kind of…” Jisung flails his hands around in an attempt to recreate the scene of the sack exploding.

“Donghyuck then thought that it would be fun to scoop up the flour and rub it in my hair,” Renjun adds dryly, blatantly ignoring the look in Donghyuck’s eyes that suggests he’s mentally flipping Renjun off. “I acted purely on self defense.”

Jeno lifts his wand and performs an Unfreezing Charm. Donghyuck’s muscles go loose and he slides to the floor wearily, sighing as he rubs at his calf muscles. Not fully trusting him to not jump Renjun, Jeno keeps his wand pointed at him, which doesn’t seem to bother Donghyuck in the slightest.

“Your Freezing Charms are strong, Jeno Lee!” Donghyuck lilts, his voice dripping in honeyed sarcasm. “You’ve gotten faster too! An improvement from sixth year.”

“Didn’t ask for your opinion on my duelling skills, Hyuck,” Jeno deadpans.

“Rich coming from someone who couldn’t even muster a Shielding Charm in time to block my attacks.  _ Mine _ , Lee,” Renjun states.

“That’s beside the point! You tried to  _ shrink _ me and stuff me into the goddamn sack, Huang. I’m not completely at fault here!” Donghyuck’s exclamations grow more incredulous with every word he speaks. Jisung chokes from his attempts to internalize his laughter.

“You guys…” Jeno sighs long and heavily. He’s lost count of how many times he’s done that today. “When Jungwoo comes back…”

That sentence seems to have an effect on the three of them. Renjun pales slightly and Donghyuck averts his eyes, choosing to stare at the powdered-white tiles. Poor Jisung’s trembling slightly.

“Jisung… get Renjun to clean you off.” Jeno gestures vaguely in the direction of the bathroom. “Watch out for Jungwoo afterwards at the entrance. Actually, if you manage to get Chenle back here, he can take your shifts for the rest of the week.”

Renjun grimaces as he steps back to take in his and Jisung’s ruined states in the mirror on the wall next to them. Renjun’s reflection boos and jeers at them, while fake–Jisung’s cheeks are blotched with tears. They head off without a word towards the back door, Renjun leaning down to snatch up his once–elegant cedar wand. He doesn’t try to curse Donghyuck, and Jeno takes that as a signal that he’s calmed down.

Now for the difficult one. Jeno turns to face Donghyuck, and he grabs the latter by the neck. “You’re cleaning this place up. In,” Jeno glances towards the clock and does a double take, “ _ twenty  _ before Jungwoo comes back.”

“This whole room. In twenty minutes.” 

“Yup. Elbow grease too. You’re not getting your wand back until this place is finished,” Jeno’s taking a strange pleasure in seeing Donghyuck’s stance waver.

“You’re insane. Can’t even clean this place with magic within twenty minutes, forget about Jungwoo not seeing this.”

“That’s on you then.” Jeno explains. “Here lies Donghyuck Lee, who has beaten death by the fists of Renjun Huang but soon to be cursed to death by Jungwoo Kim. I’ll place your favourite peaches on your grave.”

He pats a glowering Donghyuck on the back. With his right hand covered in flour, he grabs Donghyuck’s wand to perform a Scouring Charm and— yup, Jeno can feel him flaring up once again. He usually doesn’t wind up his friends like this, choosing to leave that job to Chenle, but Jeno’s feeling absolutely wrung-out and this is a sort of revenge for putting up with tsunami Lee Donghyuck for nine years. 

Jeno reaches for the doorknob with a relieved sigh. Time to go home, he thinks happily, before tapping his wand on the fabric of his pants. In a flash of purple light (he doesn’t know why his spells manifest themselves in that colour either; each wizard has their own special colour that marks their own wand, and Jeno’s just happens to be shades of purple), the sky blue uniform transforms into a comfortable, oversized hoodie of the same colour, his white trousers fading into a pair of gray ripped jeans. 

As he places his palm on the doorknob, he becomes aware of the fact that it’s covered in white powder. He also comes to the realisation that at least a quarter of the door, from the side that he’s standing on, looks like it’s been doused thoroughly in flour.

Suddenly, Jeno regrets having promised Donghyuck to take his shift. There goes his daily goal of sleeping at least six hours a day then. Muttering curses under his breath (ones that Renjun would probably smack him upside the head for), Jeno undoes the costume change.

Jeno turns around and directs a glare at Donghyuck, getting an ear-to-ear grin in return. He slams open the door, effectively startling an old wizard with a greyed beard tied around his neck like a scarf. Sighing, he slides back into the seat behind the counter.

He’s in for a long night.

  
  


🌥

Three hours have passed by. Jeno’s edging further towards the cliff of unconsciousness.

He’s so worn-out that he doesn’t even bother to look up when the kitty-clock hanging by the door lets out a shrill meow, signalling the entrance of another customer. As that customer makes their way towards Jeno, he doesn’t sit up either. 

“Uh, hello?” The voice is slightly nervous, as if they’re approaching a sleeping wolf. (Well, that’s exactly what they’re doing.) It sounds slightly familiar, but Jeno doesn’t give it any thought as he sighs, standing up with as much enthusiasm as his stance suggests.

“Welcome to Cafe Owl ‘n Quill, where all your jumbled worries will be untangled by just a sip of our magical refreshments.” It’s significantly less ardent than the original. “What’d you like today?”

“Ah, wait!” A hesitant pause. “Jeno Lee?”

Only then does he bother to glance up, his eyes widening, taken aback, as Jeno makes eye contact with the guy standing across from him. His puppy eyes are the size of plates, and he’s staring at Jeno with such familiar wonder that he can’t help but return. 

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely you Jeno.” Mark seems to breathe a sigh of relief. “It’s been a long time, oh my god. Three years since graduation? How’ve you been?”

“Mark, wow.” Jeno gapes. “How’d you find me?”

“Didn’t know you worked here actually? I usually come in during Hyuck’s shift— Ah, I should’ve guessed that you two work at the same place.” Mark’s lips form a surprised circle, and Jeno smiles at that.

“Yeah, we do. He’s gotten into… a mess though, at the back. I’m taking over his shift for today.” Jeno mutters. Mark seems to catch onto Jeno’s disdain.

“Again? I’m not surprised.”

“As you shouldn’t be. What brings you here?”

“Well, I’ve come in almost every day this month to work on my project. You know the uni nearby?” Jeno nods to that. “I major in music composition there.”

“Whoa, that’s amazing. I didn’t expect you would go to a Muggle uni after graduation? What happened to being a Healer?”

“Well,” Mark rubs his palms together subconsciously, “I don’t think I work well with… blood and injuries, and neither do I enjoy the prospect of working at St Mungo’s, so I picked up the next best thing. Music’s nice, the projects are less than manageable but I’m doing pretty well.”

“Good for you, Mark. To be honest, I kind of… followed Donghyuck here?” Jeno cracks an embarrassed smile, the first genuine one the whole day. “Not quite, but it’s a long story. Do you wanna catch up later? You can sit over there and I’ll be done in a few.”

And that’s the story of how Jeno reunites with his Gryffindor senior Mark Lee. It’s not the huge reunion party that Muggles often hold when they meet up with their old classmates after graduation, but it doesn’t take much for them to fall back into their old rhythm, chatting up a storm about their current lives and daily struggles. A topic that comes up often is their history during Hogwarts — Jeno was a year younger than perfect Head Boy Mark Lee, and it naturally led him to kind of idolise the older. Now that he thinks about it, it’s slightly embarrassing, the way his doe-eyed fourth year self trailed Mark, but Mark mercifully doesn’t bring that part up.

Before long, the cat-clock hisses at Jeno to head home, and Mark needs to actually get started on whatever he needs to be doing (“Music history,” Mark had complained, “it’s the worst part of my major. At this point I’m convinced that its job is to consume all our time and weed out the lazy ones in our class.”), so he gathers up his bag and hastily stuffs his things into it. 

Jeno shoots an uneasy glance at the clock. The cat’s whiskers on the round metal circle are pointing unnervingly close to ‘Last bus leaving! You’re not going home today!’ and Donghyuck’s using the sleeping bag tonight, as per Jungwoo’s instructions for him to cover the midnight-til-dawn shift. He really doesn’t want to sleep on the floor, and he can’t transfigure the smaller chairs into large couches without Renjun’s supervision. (Last time he did try to do it, he’d ended up turning a tiny frog baby-chair into an actual, gigantic frog that belched slime all over the walls. There’s a reason why he failed his Transfiguration OWLs in fifth year.)

Ducking behind the counter again, Jeno grabs his laptop bag from its locker-perch — the parrot guarding it opens its beak preparing to yell, but he pokes it where an out-of-place white feather sprouts, and it instantly calms down, letting out a soft squawk. Seol has been their most trusted burglar alarm for two years now, and Jeno’s almost as fond of her as he is of his cats at home. 

(Jisung and Renjun, however, are different stories. Jeno had walked in that one time after Jungwoo had freshly adopted Seol from Diagon Alley, only to see her biting down on Renjun’s pinky finger as he thrashed wildly, trying to dislodge the unrelenting parrot.

“Jeno, hel— Ow, you fucking snapper!” Renjun had spat more vulgarities at Seol. “Get this goddamn bird away from me!”

Jisung then proceeded to attempt a grab at the bird. Needless to say, that did not go down well with her.)

As Jeno packs swiftly, a loud, drawling purr comes from the cat-clock. Another customer that he’ll likely have to deal with before he can leave then; Donghyuck’s likely still cleaning, and Jungwoo won’t let him out of there anytime soon to take over. He sets his bag down on the floor with a sigh, and rolls his sleeves up. Fumbling for his wand blindly, he realises that he’d probably left his wand on Mark’s table, and he lets out one more groan. 

As his head pops above the counter to check, his eyes settle on the newcomer. He stills, and for a second, Jeno is taken aback. Gaze sweeping subtly over the boy, his eyes widen a little in surprise — the way light glints off red velvet where it shimmers on his lips and the way his eyelashes, so  _ long _ , curve — this stranger is easily the prettiest person to step foot in the cafe in a while. He sports a distressed expression on his face though, eyebrows furrowed in a familiar manner that Jeno recognises as stress, and he represses the urge to try and smoothen the wrinkle out with his thumb.

So much for being immune to good looks, Jeno thinks bitterly. He’s pleasant on the eyes, and Jeno finds it hard to look away.

“Jeno, where’s— Holy  _ crap _ .” Chenle gasps dramatically. “He’s pretty, woah.”

“Yeah,” Jeno responds quietly, tearing his eyes away and steps back, only to remember the lack of wand in his right hand. 

Chenle jabs an elbow into his stomach. “Wow, gay little Lee Jeno in action. Blink twice for help, Jen.”

Jeno doesn’t look in his direction. “Shut up.”

He doesn’t need to tell Chenle that, for the latter goes quiet. Jeno looks up to see Pretty Boy heading in their direction, and some of his courage wavers. He hopes it isn’t visible, because he really doesn’t want to look like an idiot.

“Welcome to Cafe Owl ‘n Quill, where all your jumbled worries will be untangled by just a sip of our magical refreshments. How may I help you?” Jeno doesn’t stutter. 

When Mystery Pretty Boy opens his mouth to speak, however, the world tilts under his feet. The air seems to sweeten into something lethal, although there isn’t any perfume, and it’s so suffocating that Jeno’s breath catches. A voice seeps into his mind, wrapping itself around him like a blanket, and it calls —  _ sings _ — for Jeno, drawing him in and draping itself over him. He’s sinking, drowning, the blood rushing through his veins like a current—

The sharp clearing of a throat snaps him out of his trance, and the universe realigns. His wand is in his hand, and the paper cup that he was levitating crashes to the floor, its contents spilling out along with it.

“Hello? Oh, shit, I didn’t mean to do that, I’m so sorry—” The same voice apologises over and over again, interrupting Jeno’s attempts to return his soul to his body. He leans, weak-kneed, against the counter, panting heavily. 

“What the fuck?” Jeno is barely able to process Chenle’s voice. “What was that?”

The stranger winces and sheepishly throws his palms up in a gesture of surrender. Jeno’s thoughts are reduced to nothing more than a puddle once again. “I’m so sorry, god, I forgot about that. It’s what happens when I don’t keep my magic in check.”

The boy’s voice has returned to normal, Jeno notes. It’s not hypnotising anymore, and he’s very much in control of his own mind. Somehow though, he can tell that the effects still linger in its normal form, and Jeno thinks that this boy would make a very good politician.

He doesn’t get to ask Mystery Pretty Boy about it when a voice interrupts. “Oh hey! I didn’t see you Jae—”

Mark pauses mid-sentence, most probably taking in the fact that Chenle’s curled up in a ball under the counter while Jeno’s doubled over in his chair. He glances at Mystery Pretty Boy and looks back at Jeno. A long sigh follows.

“Jaemin Na, you can’t just use your magic voodoo on baristas just to get a drink for free.”

“It was an accident!” Pretty Guy named Jaemin retorts defensively. “Was tired, didn’t think before talking.”

“That’s been your excuse for months—”

Jeno decides that tonight will, most definitely, be a longer night than expected.

  
  


🌥

Today he finds out three things about Mystery Pretty Boy: a) his name is Jaemin Na and he goes to the same university as Mark, his childhood best friend; b) he has never picked up a wand in his entire life; and c) he  _ is _ magic, confirming Chenle’s assumptions.

“Whoa, that’s so cool? So you’re a siren, kind of?”

Jaemin nods, smiling. He seems to be proud of it, from the way his eyes light up. “Yup! Honestly, I don’t know how I have it, but it runs through my family. Somewhat like being able to speak Parseltongue. But instead, I have to focus to turn it off.”

“And he uses it every chance he gets. I think if I weren’t there to stop him, he’d already have run off with a few Lamborghinis and dogs in the backseat.”

Jeno grins at that, albeit kind of nervously. “Interesting. You could get anywhere with that voice. Ever tried public speaking?”

“Except it’d reduce the audience to nothing more than worms in human bodies. I don’t think that would be great for my record.” Jaemin laughs, the sound ringing out clear and melodious in the mostly-deserted cafe. Jeno first thinks that he would do anything to make Jaemin laugh like that again, and then he shakes that thought off. It’s the magic working.

Chenle sneaks a look in Jeno’s direction and hurriedly looks away, coughing. 

All cathartic thoughts of murder are halted when Jaemin turns to fully face Jeno, and he wonders if Jaemin’s aware of his effect. 

“Mark invited me here tonight. And wow, I’m impressed. Why haven’t I heard of this place before?” Jaemin lifts an eyebrow in Mark’s direction, to which the other responds with a shrug.

“It’s nice, isn’t it? Maybe you should drop by more often. We’ll be happy to welcome you anytime,” Chenle pipes in cheerfully, the reek of  _ trouble _ coming in waves off him that Jeno doesn’t quite like.

“If you insist, then sure! Right now, I kind of have a project to attend to though.” Jaemin looks down wistfully at the humongous folder he’s carrying in both arms. “Not being able to perform magic really does have its own drawbacks.”

Jeno pauses. “Wait, you’re a…?”

“Nope, as you can see with my outstanding vocal abilities. I just never went to a magic school, neither did I receive any sort of education regarding magic at home. Pureblood in person, Muggle in soul.” For the first time, Jaemin sounds something less than positive. Sensitive topic.

“Thank Merlin he didn’t go to Hogwarts. Would’ve been a Slytherin pain in the ass, I bet.” Mark states, matter-of-fact.

Chenle narrows his eyes in Jaemin’s direction, somewhat scrutinising the latter. “You’re not wrong. He looks like he’d be a Slytherin. Pureblood at that, too.”

Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “And what are you guys? Don’t tell me you’re a Gryffindor like Head Boy Lee here.”

“Only Jen’s a Gryffindor. I’m a Hufflepuff, Hyuck at the back is another Slytherin. Renjun went to Mahoutokoro, and Jisung doesn't do magic at all.” Chenle replies without missing a beat.

Before long, Chenle and Jaemin are debating fiercely on house placements and whether Chenle’s fit to be in Hufflepuff, Mark occasionally piping in to defend himself from their remarks, projects and work long forgotten. 

It occurs to him that Chenle’s proven himself to be someone that grows comfortable with people whom he just met hours ago quickly, and Jeno wonders if he’ll ever reach that level. Doubtful.

Jaemin seems to notice Jeno’s silence, probably mistaking it as exhaustion, gasping as he turns to check the cat-clock. “Shit, your shift was ending, right? You should head home now, I’m so sorry for delaying you.” 

Jeno blinks, waving him off. “It’s fine, I would’ve needed to wait until Donghyuck finally decides to show up, anyway.”

Speak of the devil — the staff door slams open and Donghyuck staggers out, wielding a very large mop and covered in flour. He slumps to the counter and splays out on top of it, seemingly unaware of their presence.

“Hyuck, nice to see you.” Jeno calls out to the figure, and Donghyuck whips his head in the direction. Suddenly realising Mark and Jaemin’s presence, he nearly rolls off the counter. Nonetheless, he composes himself quickly, not bothering to brush himself down as he struts over and offers them a blinding smile.

“Lee Donghyuck, at your service. Sorry for the,” he gestures down at his uniform, “messy appearance. Nice to meet you!”

“Donghyuck, don’t tell me you don’t recognise me.” Mark scoffs, sounding undignified.

Donghyuck only blinks in Mark’s direction, before turning his full attention on Jaemin. “We haven’t had good-looking people around here in ages! Please do visit here more often.”

Jeno decides that it’s probably a good time to leave, then. Turning towards the staff room with his wand tucked safely in his pocket, he tries to conjure a mental image of the bus schedule and whether he has enough energy left to Apparate home.

“Ah, you’re leaving? Get home safely then, Jeno!” A voice with a teasing lilt sings from behind him, and he halts disbelievingly in his tracks. There’s a trace of magic in those words.

He inhales. Exhales.

His cats, Jeno frantically thinks. He’s going to get home in one piece to his cats, Jaemin or not. He shouldn’t be accepting defeat this early on. He can withstand the seemingly irresistible charm of Jaemin Na. 

It turns out that perhaps, he’s not as strong as he likes to think he is as a Gryffindor, after all.

  
  


🌥

There are various benefits and disadvantages to Jaemin’s increasingly frequent visits to the cafe.

The benefits are easy to pick out: Jaemin and his witty remarks that make Jeno laugh himself to the brink of insanity. The disadvantages, however, probably have a much stronger presence; such are Jaemin and his flirty remarks that make Jeno flush red and turn all semblance of intelligence in his brain to mush.

So, naturally, of  _ course _ Jeno anticipates every appearance Jaemin makes, and even the snorts that Renjun and Donghyuck let out behind his back (and he knows they know he can hear; they do it on purpose) whenever Jeno greets Jaemin with a trembling grin does absolutely nothing to erase that sudden rush of excitement that he always gets.

Today is no different. The bell twinkles, and the cat-clock purrs an uncharacteristically friendly welcome that’s special to Jaemin and only Jaemin, because he strokes the grey cat that’s perched upon the huge wooden structure every time he enters. (Pebbles likes Jeno, but she likes Jaemin better. Probably because she’s mortal enemies with Bongsik at home. He doesn’t know if he deserves to belong in that equation.)

Jeno doesn’t turn around of his own accord. Instead, it’s an automatic reflex to float the latte cup towards Chenle, who snatches it out of the air dexterously without spilling a single drop. He snickers. Jeno ignores him.

“Afternoon! What would our fine guest like on this mighty sunny day?” It’s pouring outside, and as Jaemin brushes himself off, water slides off his clothes.

“Thank god for this waterproof charm. Gotta thank Renjun for this later.” Jaemin’s voice is monotone, but he’s still beaming, and he sounds like his normal upbeat self when he calls out towards the back. “Hey, Huang! Thanks for the Impervius! Saved my life today.”

Renjun pops his head out of the staff door, signalling a thumbs-up before he continues muttering a spell in Japanese, and the door leaps off its hinges to accommodate a gigantic cardboard box. It gets slightly stuck on the way out, but the doorway widens just a little, and Jeno can see a tuft of lilac hair peeking out from behind the box as it's gently levitated in.

Jaemin turns his attention back on Jeno. “The usual for me today! Venti iced Americano, add ice and no water with 4 extra espresso shots. I don’t think I need any shots of potions today.”

Jeno scribbles the order onto the magic notepad without hesitation, forgets Jaemin’s still there when he taps it with his wand and it explodes into lavender. He coughs, and Jeno’s eyes immediately dart towards him.

“Ah— damn it, I forgot that you were still standing there. I’m so sorry, let me get a glass of water for you,” Jeno flusters.Within seconds, his hands are fumbling with a glass of water to give to Jaemin. The latter gulps it down before sneezing loudly, thrice in a row.

“It’s fine! I forgot about it too, actually, so it’s on me as well.” Jaemin brushes him off, and the trademark grin is back again. 

“Still—”

“I said, it’s fine.” Jeno frowns, but lets the topic drop. “Actually, usually cashiers look at me all weird when I order my death drink, you don’t flinch.”

“Our cafe’s policy is not to ask questions and let the customers keep their secrets. If you’re trying to kill yourself who am I to stop you?”

“You sound like you’ve seen a lot,” Jaemin muses, tapping his lips delicately. Jeno’s eyes refuse to mark that particular movement.

“Thanks for acknowledging that.” Jeno takes the money Jaemin stretches out to him, and with a wave of his wand, it vanishes and a ‘cha-ching’ rings out. Jeno thinks Jaemin’s always going to find the sound amusing.

When Jaemin finally heads to settle down in a quiet corner of the cafe (the chair he’s sitting on is actually a thick tree branch a metre up in the air, and a thinner one is wrapped gently around his waist to make sure he doesn’t slip off), Jeno lets out a long sigh and slouches over to Chenle, Renjun, Donghyuck and Jisung who are huddled in the entrance of the staff door.

“End of my shift. Donghyuck, you’re up now—” 

A glass shatters. Jeno doesn’t even flinch, just whirls around to check the perpetrator of the crime.

He’s met by the growing grimace spreading across Jaemin’s face, and the guilt is evident. When he turns back towards the trio, he finds that they’ve already deserted him. Only Jisung stands in the doorway, and he won’t be of much help either.

When Jeno strolls up to Jaemin, the latter sports a sheepish smile, and Jeno can feel some of his annoyance dissipating already, much to his disappointment. “Ah. Sorry, Jeno, that was an accident.”

“The third accident this week.” Jeno states resignedly. “Giving you and your unusual tendency to break glassware up to Merlin.”

Jaemin pouts —  _ pouts _ — down at him, and even more of his frustration evaporates. There’s no way Jeno is capable of possibly holding something against him when he’s acting cute. It’s fatal, and Jaemin knows that very well.

Jeno lets out a long sigh, picking up his wand to magic the broken glass pieces over to the dustbin. It’s a challenge, as it’s on the other side of the room and he has to make sure no one walks into the flurry of shards, but he manages. Experience counts for something.

Jaemin starts to apologise again, but Jeno’s had enough. He practically scurries off to the staff room, and when he gets through the door, he slides down against it and curls up in a tired ball.

Of course, they’re in hysterics. “My god— you should’ve seen your face when Jaemin pouted at you. You looked like a kicked, very betrayed puppy, I’m not sure which one of you looked more remorseful.” Donghyuck gasps out, doubling over.

“This happens every time,” Renjun pauses for effect, “every single time Jaemin visits. He breaks something but you spend so much time mending them so that Jungwoo doesn’t notice.”

Jeno is physically rendered unable to defend himself.

Before he can open his mouth to say anything though, a tentative knock sounds on the other side of the door, effectively startling the crap out of Jeno and the others as he scrambles to stand up.

When he opens the door, it’s to Jaemin Na.

“Dropping in to say that I’ve put the cash for the glass I broke in the parrot’s beak over there,” Jaemin points towards Seol, “and that I’m really sorry for the bother I caused you guys. I’ll be leaving now, please don’t overwork yourselves!” 

And with that, Jaemin departs with a perfectly-practiced smile, a sly wink, and a careful trace of magic weaved into his voice. Jeno’s mind goes blank.

Chenle, having inhaled too sharply, starts choking, while Renjun and Donghyuck are left with a slight flush on their cheeks. 

“See,” Jeno says wearily, “even you guys aren’t immune to his charms.”

Silence means consent and an admission. He takes it as an agreement.

  
  


🌥

Today is yet another, surprisingly, less-than-mundane day in Cafe Owl ‘n Quill; the reason behind all this commotion typically being the one and only Jaemin Na.

Chenle usually contributes to the fire that Jaemin stokes with the latter’s ability to enable him and sarcastic remarks, but today he’s slumped down on the couch facing the window, resembling the Jeno of a few weeks ago. His eyes are closed but his eyebrows are furrowed into a grimace, so Jeno concludes that he’s not sleeping and instead, thinking very hard. It’s not hard to figure out where the reason for his problems stem from, when he glances over to glimpse the other people who are sitting with him.

Jeno walks over — which he knows is a bad decision but he’s on break right now and he couldn’t care less — and takes a seat at the table. He side-eyes Jisung, who is slouched over an unnaturally thick textbook, posture suggesting that he’s in pain, and raises an eyebrow at Jaemin.

“Algebra. Due tomorrow morning,” Jaemin explains slowly, and Jeno nods mutely. Understandable.

Chenle mutters something under his breath, and Jeno couldn’t hear it, but Jaemin and Jisung do and they whip their heads in his direction.

“What do you mean, you gotta equate it to five to work out the turning point? I tell you, I’ve suffered through  _ thirteen _ whole years of Muggle education for you to tell me that I can’t do simple algebra?” Jaemin snaps. 

“Well, to be fair, it has been three years since you’ve gone to university. I don’t think you’d remember calculus from Year 11.” Jisung gets a high five from Chenle when he states that, and Jaemin frowns at him.

“Chenle hasn’t even studied Muggle maths before. Why are you even asking him in the first place?”

“I took a gap year for him, you know. I’ve learnt a lot of Muggle stuff during this year than you, a sheltered pureblood who goes to a Muggle school in an attempt to lie to yourself that you’re familiar with the Muggle ways.” Chenle protests with such ferocity that even Jeno flinches, but Jaemin doesn’t seem fazed one bit.

“Well, what exactly have you learnt? Please, no one would be fooled by your noble claims that you’re ‘internationally-knowledgeable’ and that you ‘know the way of the Muggles’,” Jaemin retorts, and he leans over the table a little to glare at Jisung. “Choose wisely: your wise Jaemin- _ hyung _ ,” he uses the Korean honorific in an attempt to win over Jisung with their home country, “or this brat and failing.”

Jisung is hopelessly and desperately stuck in the middle when Chenle chooses to redirect his attention to him. “Jisung. There are other solutions to this.”

Jaemin scoffs. “Now you’re suggesting cheating? How low of you.”

“Like you haven’t used magic in your, what, thirteen whole years of Muggle education?” He’s got a fair point, and Jeno can see it in Jaemin’s eyes. Bullseye hit. Jeno feels like he’s watching a particularly aggressive game of table-hockey; Chenle’s just almost scored the winning point, and Jaemin’s forced to reposition his defenses and strategize.

Sure enough, Jaemin feeds into what Chenle has lacked to offer. “No, actually you’re right. Precisely.” He turns to Jisung, who looks like a deer caught in headlamps. “I have a whole arsenal of enchanted quills. I can find you one that does maths for you.”

Jisung actually pauses, seeming to consider Jaemin’s offer. It doesn’t last for long though, and the moment he steals a glance at Chenle, his face returns to the state of confusion it had been in. 

Jeno feels a pang of sympathy for him, before he decides that he’s not in the shape to join any sort of argument. He’s going to fall asleep on the couch sooner or later — such are the disadvantages of working the early-morning shift. Shaking off his sneakers wearily, he brings his knees up to his chest and turns onto his side on the seat. Hopefully he’ll be able to get a few winks of sleep.

“No wonder you’ve survived so many years without magic. That’s foul,” Chenle jabs.

“Adaptation is the key to survival. You’re so lucky that you’re friends with Jeno and Donghyuck, you know. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a job for you.”

“Have you actually seen me work?” Chenle’s voice is rising. It’s going to get ugly. Jeno curls in on himself further.

“I avert my eyes.”

“Too busy gazing at someone el—”

Jisung chokes on air, and Chenle glares at him like he’s daring him to say something. Like he’s impeding his presidential speech. Jisung flushes, but before Jaemin manages to get a word in edgewise, they’re interrupted by someone slamming his hands onto their table.

Jeno startles a little, a small yelp leaving his throat. Renjun’s hovering over the table and staring down Chenle with such an expression of displeasure that makes Jeno gulp. He looks around, checking his surroundings to see if they’ve disturbed any customers with the commotion, but fortunately it’s 3pm on a weekday and no one’s around to pay attention to them. 

“You guys,” Renjun starts. His tone of voice is dangerously quiet, so unlike his usual self, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Jisung’s Adam's apple bob up and down. “Could you kindly shut the fuck up?”

A stuttered apology starts to bloom from Jisung’s mouth, but Chenle interrupts him with an exasperated scoff. “We’re having a very important conversation over here.”

Renjun’s eyebrows furrow, and he inclines forward to lean on the table. His right hand inches towards his pocket, and Jeno bites his bottom lip, debating the possible courses of action he could take. If the situation blows up into a physical duel likely between Renjun, Chenle and Jaemin, chances are that Jungwoo will take the anger out on them instead of him — he might not even get angry in the first place, seeing as he’s out for dinner with Doyoung, since he’s probably going to be in a good mood. But if Jeno turns out to be wrong, he’s going to have to clear up their mess  _ again _ .

Fortunately saving Jeno from making a decision, Renjun’s anger seems to vaporise almost immediately, redirecting his attention onto Jisung. “I’ve never seen Chenle so worked up over  _ homework _ . A change for the better, I suppose.”

Jaemin cheers at Renjun’s words, but the frosty glare Renjun returns makes him deflate a little.

Renjun raises an eyebrow at Jisung. “What do you need help with?”

“Jun’s pretty good with Muggle maths, I think,” Jeno adds weakly, and rather unhelpfully judging by Renjun’s dismissal of his remark.

“Differential algebra.” Jisung pushes his notebook over to Renjun’s side of the table, handing over the black pen in his hand. “Question seven, I think.”

It barely takes Renjun ten seconds to stare at the question before he whips his head up to stare at them with a barely-concealed judgemental look in his eyes. “This is,” Renjun cuts off in disbelief. “So easy.”

Leaning over the table, Jaemin and Jisung peer curiously at Renjun’s quick scribbling. A few seconds later, Renjun places the pen down with a smug smile that Jeno associates with people who have egos that unfortunately cannot be doubted by anyone as they fill their shoes appropriately.

“Done.”

Chenle snorts. “Pray tell, what’s the answer then?”

Renjun starts spewing maths gibberish, to a point where it sounds a lot like a rap to Jeno, but it seems like he knows what he’s doing as he picks up the pen and scribbles frantically. The slightly dazed look in Jisung’s eyes is concerning, but after a few minutes he manages to nod along to what Renjun says and even Chenle’s sneaking glances at the worksheet.

Renjun slams the pen down on the table. “Finished. You owe me.”

He turns around and stalks back behind the counter. Jeno blinks twice, and slowly unfurls himself, using Jisung as support to lift himself up from the couch. He nearly flops back down onto the floor, but Jaemin reaches an arm out to steady him.

  
  


🌥

The cat-clock’s hands are at a standstill. Jeno puts down his wand.

Today he’s working overtime again, but he can’t blame Jungwoo for lengthening his shift. He scans the room, and he counts almost fifty people. It’s an insane number of customers for a weekday evening, but he figures there must be some sort of event going on. His suspicions are confirmed as Donghyuck turns to him, hair frazzled.

“Jen.” He nods towards the nearest table to their left. “Go clear those dishes. I’ll try to magic some more seats, but it’ll take time.”

“We have Jisung to distract the customers. I think they’ll be fine.” Jeno nods nonetheless and makes his way towards said task area. 

Somewhere in between crossing the mountains of people just to walk ten metres across a room, Jeno’s legs give way. He clutches onto the armchair and promptly collapses into it. He doesn’t know if he’d be able to handle yet another rush time shift.

After a while though, everyone’s seated at a huge table (which looks like the Round Table) and the commotion is terrible, but he’s free. Chenle’s back from whatever he does when he sneaks out, and he’s the one in charge of attending to the birthday party event today, so Jeno decides that it’ll be a good time for him to take a nap. Thus he closes his eyes and wills his soul to be at peace.

The cat-clock whines again however, indicating that someone’s entered the shop, and Jeno cracks an eye open. It widens comically as he realises who’s just entered.

Renjun strolls in, hands in his jean pockets and Jeno raises an eyebrow. He usually avoids the cafe like the plague if it isn’t his shift. Jeno wonders what changed.

When he approaches the counter, Donghyuck’s eyes widen a little. He doesn’t flinch though, and treats him as if Renjun had never worked in the cafe — as he always does if one of them drops by after hours. “Good evening. Welcome to Cafe Owl ‘n Quill, where all your jumbled worries will be untangled by just a sip of our magical refreshments. How may I help you?”

Renjun crosses his arms, and that’s how Jeno confirms that he’s angry. 

Renjun plays along. “Evening to you too. Sorry for dropping by at such an unpleasant time,” he gestures towards the crowd huddled in the corner of the shop, “but I need to make a purchase.”

Donghyuck nods, unsheathing his wand from his back pocket. “What would you like to order?”

“Could I have a cake? A birthday one, to be precise.”

“Sure.” Donghyuck waves his wand around. “We have a special today — cookies and cream decorated with icing that acts as a magical picture frame.”

“Cool, I’ll take that.” The steam rolls off Renjun in waves.

It doesn’t improve even as he stands by the counter for a quarter of an hour before Donghyuck emerges from the back, carrying a gigantic cake box in his arms. He sets it down before Renjun.

“Who is this cake for?” Donghyuck glances at Renjun briefly and dismissively, and it’s obvious that he can sense Renjun’s increasingly sour mood, but he’s choosing to ignore it. It’ll probably be his downfall after, judging by the searing glare Renjun throws his way.

“So you’ve forgotten.” Donghyuck flinches at the pointed jab. “Ah. I get it then.”

Donghyuck whips out his phone and checks the date. He’s coming to a realisation, starting to stutter out an excuse, but Renjun’s having none of it. Jeno winces.

“It’s my birthday today, by the way. I’ll see you tomorrow; I have something to attend to.” Renjun’s smiling sweetly, but his ears are reddening at an alarming rate. Spinning on his heel, he turns and stalks towards the exit without a word, nodding in acknowledgement at Jisung, who calls a happy birthday after him. 

  
  


🌥

They don’t shut up. For the next few days.

Donghyuck being the only one to forget about Renjun’s birthday causes the latter to go on a rampage whenever he comes within a five-metre radius of Donghyuck, and it’s absolutely painful for the rest of them. 

“Haven’t you ever,” Jeno hisses to Donghyuck one day as they work side by side, “thought of  _ apologising _ to him? I don’t think I can stand this anymore.”

Donghyuck pretends as if he hasn’t heard anything. He reaches a hand out. “Pass the sugar over there.”

Jeno snatches it off the chair. He grips Donghyuck’s shoulders and finally, the latter looks a little scared. “If you don’t apologise today I will make sure you walk out of this building on a stretcher on its way to St Mungo’s.”

“He won’t even listen to me. I can’t even get a word in edgewise before he’s telling me, in the most diplomatic way possible, to fuck off.”

“Hypothetically, if you were to show some sort of remorse?”

“In what way don’t I?” Donghyuck’s grasping Jeno’s arm now.

Jeno makes a disapproving sound at the back of his throat and sighs. “You know what? I think you might have to grovel. On your knees.” He thinks for a moment. “Yeah, that way my suffering will end. Do it for me, please.”

(Donghyuck does. It falls miserably short when Renjun looks down at him as if he’s yet another insect under his shoe, and spits a stream of words at him. He asks Chenle what it means, and he pales. 

“I don’t know whether to laugh or be absolutely fucking terrified because he just said a passage in an ancient dialect that supposedly summons demons from hell on its victims.” Chenle shivers. Donghyuck turns the shade of the handkerchief he’s holding onto.”)

Donghyuck drops his eyes to the floor and lets go of Jeno. There’s the typical scheming look in his eyes that Jeno decides that he doesn’t quite like. He’ll ask Donghyuck about it later before he messes up further.

  
  


🌥

Jeno’s week doesn’t improve. In fact, it goes further downhill when Jaemin skips into the cafe. He’s beaming and in an excellent mood, and perhaps it should rub off on Jeno, but instead it raises warning bells.

His hunch proves to be right when the familiar sound of something very expensive crashes to the floor and shatters on the spot.

Jaemin’s already been shoved aside by Donghyuck before he reaches down to touch the shards of the once-vase. Donghyuck’s muttering some sort of spell and waving his wand around in complicated patterns, but the pieces simply glow a disgusting shade of vomit green and vibrate on the spot. 

“ _ Reparo _ doesn’t work on this shit,” Donghyuck reports to Jeno. “This is racist.”

“It’s centuries old. I think there’s some sort of anti-charm charm placed on this. A magic-repellant charm? Does that exist?” Jeno bends over to examine the shards, carefully turning one around in his palm. Sure enough, it’s cool to the touch despite the magic Donghyuck’s attempted to cast on it — even if the spells hadn’t worked, it would usually be rather warm. 

“Yeah, that’s something to consider. If this vase is centuries old then…” Donghyuck stands up to look Jeno in the eyes, “this would be a very priceless artifact.” Using his wand to nudge the broken fragments into a pile, he shoots a piercing look at Jaemin. “And it’s broken.”

Jaemin seems both concerned and utterly flabbergasted, eyes widened as if his wallet had been snatched right out of his hands in clear daylight. “Merlin’s beard, I’m so sorry—”

Donghyuck waves a hand in his direction. A clear dismissal, and it effectively shuts Jaemin up. “I don’t really care. It’s not my property anyways. Save your apologies for— Oh look, he’s here.” 

On cue, the cat-clock purrs, and the doors slide open. Jungwoo enters side by side with Doyoung, and Jeno can’t help but wonder how quickly it’ll take for Jaemin to wipe off the blinding grin that’s blooming across Jungwoo’s face.

  
  


🌥

It takes three minutes for Jungwoo to finish chatting with Doyoung and hang up his coat. It then takes him a further minute to finish gaping at the shattered vase shards scattered all over the (formerly) beautiful wooden flooring and snap out of his daze.

When Jungwoo opens his mouth to speak, a few predictions run through Jeno’s mind. There’s three ways that he could react to the Jaemin-induced incident: positively, negatively, and under influence.

The third comes true. 

“Mr Kim, I’m so sorry for the mess.” Jeno almost swoons with Jaemin’s words, and that’s how he can tell that he’s using his magic voodoo. “I’ll clean it up and try to fix it—”

Jungwoo speaks up, not necessarily harshly but firmly enough to cut Jaemin off. “This is a vase dating centuries back, perhaps even to Merlin’s time. It won’t be repairable by magic, and neither will elbow grease do anything.” 

Jaemin flinches, eyes widening slightly; a change in expression that isn’t obvious but Jeno still manages to catch it. He’s been destabilised — his charmspeaking doesn’t work as well on Jungwoo like he’d expected, and even Jeno’s taken aback. It effectively snaps him out of the daze that Jaemin had put him under with his magic.

Jaemin bites his lip and shifts from one foot to the other. He doesn’t break eye contact with Jungwoo though, and by the way that he’s eyes are steeling, he’s regained his composure. “How do I make this up to you?”

Jungwoo tilts his head in thought. A short moment of silence passes, and his mouth forms a thin line. “I’d say making up for the expenses would be the only way.”

Jaemin’s calm facade shatters.

“Well, in that case,” Jaemin runs a hand through his hair, worrying his lip, “I’m pretty fucked. I don’t have the money…”

“The cost of that vase would’ve been astronomical anyway. I don’t think any one of us could’ve paid it off,” Donghyuck states, matter-of-fact. Jeno raises his eyebrows in his direction, and he shrugs.

Jungwoo starts pacing across the room, deep in thought. The silence is deafening, interrupted regularly by the  _ clack _ of Jungwoo’s shoes against the floor. Jeno thinks he can hear Pebbles purring loudly in her sleep from twenty metres away.

Jungwoo stops in his tracks abruptly and whirls to face Jaemin, who startles a little. “I have a proposition.” A grin spreads slowly across his face. “If you work here for a certain amount of time, you’d be able to pay back the cost of the vase.”

Jeno drops his pencil. It clatters to the floor.

He turns so quickly to Jaemin that he gets a little dizzy. His eyes are unfocused, and he’s unconsciously rubbing his hands together in thought. He’s  _ considering _ it.

“That’d actually work. Jaemin can be another addition to our set of pretty boys. His voice is magic too, and if it won’t convince angry customers to calm down, I don’t know what will.” Donghyuck pipes up, clapping his hands together to emphasise his point.

Jeno’s pretty sure that the panic is blatantly showing on his face, because Jaemin glances at him. “Jeno, is that fine with you?”

He flings his hands up and waves Jaemin off. Jaemin nods at Jungwoo then, saying his thanks.

Donghyuck leaps up from the couch excitedly and thrusts a hand in Jaemin’s direction. “Welcome to the team! Glad to have you,” he coos, “it’ll be so much more fun with you on board.”

Jaemin smiles, eyes lighting up and accepts the handshake. However, he suddenly stills. “How much is the vase?”

Donghyuck winces, and leans in to whisper something to Jaemin that makes him go an unnatural shade of green. 

Jaemin gapes. “That’s astronomical. It would take years to pay that off, probably even longer than it’d take for me to get my degree,” he says unbelievingly.

Jungwoo sighs. “I’ll let you off the hook. I’ll give you five months, how about that?”

Jaemin looks like he could kiss Jungwoo. He bends at the waist, profusely thanking him, and Jeno grabs the chance to flee, slinking quietly through the staff door. He grabs onto the first person he gets ahold of (Renjun) and attempts to steady himself. His knees are about to give way, so he grunts gratefully when Renjun wraps an arm around Jeno to upright him.

Before Renjun can say anything, the words come rushing out of his mouth. “Jaemin broke something, and he’s gonna be working here for five whole months to pay off the debt.”

Renjun inhales sharply through his teeth. “I can see why that would be a problem.”

“Yeah,” Jeno breathes. “A problem. What happens if our shifts align too often?”

“You’d let him get away with a lot, actually.”

He snorts into Renjun’s shoulder, and he feels Renjun shake with laughter. Jeno deflates, shifting more of his weight onto Renjun, and the latter stumbles. He doesn’t tip over though — Renjun’s strong enough to lift Donghyuck onto his shoulders, and Jeno gives him credit for that. Stronger than he looks, and the opposite of fragile.

Renjun sighs. “I guess you’ll have to deal with it. Wear gloves everyday to work so you’re prepared.”

Jeno taps Renjun twice on the arm, and the latter lets go, allowing him to slide slowly to the floor. He lies there.

Jeno’s going to have to slap the Jeno of a few weeks ago who said that his life would be tough.

  
  


🌥

Jaemin’s a new addition to Jeno’s daily routine. Whether or not it’s a welcome one though, he hasn’t decided yet.

He pieces together one thing, though. No wonder that Jungwoo was willing to let Jaemin work, and for such a short time too. 

A hand reaches out to Jeno, flailing in his face. Jeno snaps to attention and turns to where the arm connects to a body. It’s another teenage girl.

“Hey, mister! I’d like another refill of my water. Here you go.” The girl shoves a mineral water plastic bottle into Jeno’s hands, and it almost tumbles to the floor but he catches it in time.

At this point they’d have to start charging for water refills.

“Excuse me? What’d you say?” The girl’s now staring him down her nose, despite being at least ten centimetres shorter, and Jeno realises that he’d spoken his thoughts with a jolt.

“Oh, miss! I’ll go ahead and fill your bottle up. Would you like cold or warm water?” Faking a smile strains his jaw muscles, as he’s discovered from the hours of relentless bullying from the customers.

He excuses himself with a quick bow, and jogs over to Jisung, whose eyes are wide as plates; there’s a stunned look on his face, and he’s obviously kind of taken aback by the sheer number of customers today. Not waiting for Jisung to get a proper grip on the bottle, Jeno strips himself of his apron, flinging it across the room.

“Jisung. Fill up the bottle, pronto, and give it to the brunette with purple highlights outside. The one clawing at Jaemin.” Jeno aggressively pats his pockets down before realising he had chucked his wand away along with the apron.

“That fulfills the criteria of about three out of ten women out there.” There’s a slight tinge of panic in his voice.

“Ask around. Merlin’s beard. It hasn’t been this busy since Valentine’s Day. This is all Jaemin’s fault. Curse good-looking people.” Jeno splutters. 

The tip of his wand is poking out from between the cushions, and Jeno slides it out like butter, fitting it in between his teeth as he rushes back through the door to the main area. Impossibly, there’s an even greater number of people flooding the counter, and he pauses for a second to bash his head into the column of wall twice before he latches onto Jaemin.

Jeno shakes his arm a little, and it gets Jaemin’s attention. He turns to Jeno, and there’s a blinding grin plastered across his face. He’s gritting his teeth subtly though, and the usual mirth in his eyes is replaced by a look that screams for help. “Jeno. Bloody hell, thank goodness. Could you,” he gestures towards the people in front of him, “handle them for a while?”

Jeno nods frantically. “Go hide. I don’t care whether your shift is over or not, just get into your normal clothes, wear a mask and exit the store from the back door. I’ll call you back when these  _ witches _ leave—”

Getting the message, Jaemin bows quickly to the customers and flees through the back door. The people in front of him seem to disperse a little afterwards, some redirecting their attention onto Jeno and Renjun at the frontlines instead, but it’s much better than before.

He’s going to have to deal with this seven days a week for five months. Jeno prays for a lightning bolt to strike him down before he bursts into stress tears.

  
  


🌥

The next week is a significantly more laidback and stress-free one. No matter how much the customers pester them for their work schedule, Renjun manages to drive them away empty-handed. In the end, they gave up, deciding that pursuing Jaemin wouldn’t be worth so much of their time. Jeno agrees with them.

Jeno lets a deep sigh escape his lips as he shoves his glasses case into his backpack, zipping it up with a relieving finality. He’s done for the week — it’s Sunday, and he won’t have to work the following day because Chenle’s set to be doing back-to-back shifts.

Grabbing his wand and stumbling to his feet, Jeno reaches for the staff door. Donghyuck, who’s in the middle of scribbling something (of which Jeno doesn’t really want to know about), calls out a farewell to him. Renjun looks up briefly too, and waves goodbye.

Once Renjun’s stopped booing Donghyuck for whatever he’s written down, Jeno places his hand on the door handle.

He freezes. There’s a sound coming from inside the staff room.

It comes in shuddering waves, and Jeno has no doubt that it’s one of them, but he still slides the door open with as much care and as slowly as he can. It, mercifully without sound, inches open enough for him to take a peek inside, and he’s rendered speechless.

Jaemin’s arms are wrapped around Jisung, who’s — Jeno realises with muted horror — crying with an intensity that has his chest heaving up and down. Sobs wrack his shoulders painfully, and Jisung seems to be almost panting at the rate of which breathless gasps escape his lungs. Jeno wants to reach out and envelop him in a hug, to ask him what’s the problem, before he realises that he’s intruding on something extremely private, judging by the sheer vulnerability that Jisung opens up to Jaemin with.

Running soothing strokes down Jisung’s back, Jaemin is whispering something to Jisung in the dimly lit room with such gentleness that Jeno momentarily stops breathing. Jaemin suddenly releases Jisung, instead lifting him to stand upright. He grabs his shoulders, and as his voice increases in volume Jeno manages to catch pieces of their conversation.

“It’s overwhelming, isn’t it?” Jaemin mutters with a bittersweet smile.

Another sob leaves Jisung’s throat. “Yeah. It’s just— so much—”

Jaemin taps Jisung’s cheek gently, and Jisung’s words halt halfway. “I know. I get it. I’ve been through that stage too. I get what you’re feeling.” His words are reassuring, laced with the slightest bit of pity.

“I like him  _ so much _ , Jaemin, oh my God.”

Jeno recoils as if stung by a bee. If Jisung crying wasn’t a good enough clue, this shows that it’s definitely a private setting, and he’s clearly intruding. 

“Sung. It’s okay.” Jaemin’s words are firmer now, but he allows Jisung to melt into the crook of his neck again. “Take a deep breath. You’ll be okay.”

Slowly but surely, Jisung’s sobs cease and his breathing stabilises. They stand there in silence, wrapped in their own comfortable bubble of reticence, before Jaemin pulls back a little.

“You’re questioning. It’s a confusing time, for everyone, including me. I understand what you’re feeling right now, trust me. It’s a terrible feeling, and your world feels like it’s been flipped upside down.” Jaemin’s looking into Jisung’s eyes with such an intensity that it gives Jeno slight goosebumps. “But you’ll get through it. We all have. One day you’ll wake up, and something will fall into place. Then it’s a domino effect, and sooner or later everything will be resolved. It’ll feel right.”

Jisung stares at Jaemin for a while, before he looks down in what Jeno interprets as embarrassment. “I don’t think I’ve liked someone before. Not like this.” Jisung pauses for a while, and amends his statement. “Not at all.”

Jaemin smiles softly. “Chenle has that effect, doesn’t he? He makes everyone drop their guards, I think. He’s sharp around the edges, but they melt when he comes into contact with someone. Those edges turn into cotton, and before you know it, you’ve spilled your lifelong-kept secrets to him.”

Jeno doesn’t stay to see Jisung’s reaction. He swings his bag onto his shoulder and hightails it out of there, hoping that they haven’t seen him. It would be a disaster if they did.

Despite everything, there’s a snake of warmth wrapping itself around Jeno’s heart, resting comfortably in his chest. Jeno doesn’t look back when he leaves.

  
  


🌥

Jaemin Na has his down days too, as Jeno learns.

It’s a given — it’s impossible for someone to have such unrelenting energy for twenty-four hours a day for a whole week without hibernating afterwards. It still surprises him though when Jaemin doesn’t show up with the usual spring in his step.

His bangs are messily swept to the side, hair windblown as Jaemin sheds his coat in favour of the blanket Jeno hands him. He slides into a booth and drapes it across his lap before slumping onto the table. Before long, Jaemin’s eyes flutter close and he’s fast asleep, head resting on his arms.

Jeno eases onto the seat next to Donghyuck. They meet eyes, and Donghyuck glances briefly at Jaemin. Jeno raises his eyebrows at him, and his mouth curls into a small smile.

“You should wake him up after a while.” Donghyuck nods towards the stack of books dumped across Jaemin’s table. “It looks like a lot. I wonder how so many Muggles survived uni.”

Jeno shakes his head. “Beats me. We had the most relaxed professors in decades too, and we barely made it through our NEWTs. I feel sorry for them.” 

Donghyuck hums in consideration, and they sit there in peaceful silence for a while. During midnight shifts, only the occasional hermit or student wanders in every few hours, so it’s their chance to take a few naps to prepare for the next day when they’d be bombarded by customers.

Jeno’s fully charged, partially because of the coffee he’d forced himself to gulp down earlier. (Renjun had frowned at him disapprovingly. Said that Jeno shouldn’t overdose on caffeine just to be awake for Jaemin. Jeno retorted with the claims that he barely drinks any anyways.) So he lets another fifteen minutes pass before he leans over to shake Jaemin awake.

“Hey. Jaemin? It’s been fifteen minutes. I think you should get started on your work.”

Jaemin startles awake, and Jeno admires the speed at which he regains consciousness, because usually groggy Jeno would just fall back to sleep. He doesn’t seem surprised to see Jeno, but that’s because this — the habit of Jaemin taking naps and Jeno being his alarm clock — has already become a weekly occurrence.

“Oh.” Jaemin mumbles, shaking off any remainders of sleep. “Ah, right. Thanks, Jen.”

It’s his cue to leave Jaemin to his work, and thus Jeno retreats once more to behind the counter. However, out of instinct, he brews a cup of matcha latte and places it gently next to Jaemin, muttering an “on the house” before walking swiftly away as the pink-haired boy calls his thanks.

Donghyuck smirks at him, but before any teasing leaves his mouth, Jeno pinches the flesh along his jaw and twists. 

“Don’t say a word,” Jeno mutters.

“Wasn’t going to,” Donghyuck deadpans. A pause. “Just saying though, as your bestest best friend. Don’t give in to him so easily. We still need to make a profit here, no matter how much you like him.”

“I don’t,” Jeno protests weakly. It sounds flat even to his own ears. “It’s the magic.”

Luckily for him, Donghyuck doesn’t press further, instead heading off towards the back of the cafe to take a quick nap and leaving Jeno in charge of the shop. Jeno breathes out a sigh that he didn’t know he’s been holding in.

What he feels or not necessarily doesn’t feel can be dealt with another day. Perhaps he’s running away from his problems, but Jeno couldn’t care less. He chooses to stay in the present.

  
  


🌥

Unbelievably, Jaemin’s mood keeps worsening.

When the cat-clock purrs and Pebbles shoves herself at Jaemin in an attempt to get him to devote his attention to her, Jaemin usually lets her do it and strokes her, even when he’s busy. Today, however, he skips right over Pebbles and staggers straight to his usual table in the corner facing the window. He collapses right into it, and if that doesn’t make Jeno concerned, when  _ Jeno _ goes over to check on Jaemin he gets ignored too.

Needless to say, Jeno is worried. 

Jeno slides into the booth quietly when Jaemin doesn’t respond. He’s completely slumped onto the cold marble surface, arms splayed out in front of him as he stares out the window. His gaze is listless, blank almost, and his mouth is set in an unusually straight line. It’s an unusual happening; like the moon turning neon green or Jisung managing to brew a perfect cup of latte or Chenle being unable to continue and clean up the mess where Jisung had left off. Nonetheless, it’s been much more prevalent recently, and Jeno’s getting uncomfortably used to dead-eyed Jaemin.

He decides to change that. “Jaemin? Are you oka—”

A palm popping up stops him in his tracks. It belongs to Jaemin, who hasn’t even taken his eyes off the window for a second.

“I need caffeine. Before I partake in any social interactions.” Jaemin says all this as he continues to gaze out the window. He sounds as if he hasn’t talked to anyone in two weeks or he’s talked for the whole of two weeks. “I’m sorry to bother you.” He doesn’t sound very sorry either.

Jeno jumps straight into action, as he always does. He’s gotten better at resisting Jaemin’s magic, but it’s different when Jaemin isn’t focused or does not give a fuck about putting a damper on it. It’s rare as usually Jaemin has complete control over the magic, so the way he’s just letting it flow around his words carelessly worries Jeno.

Within minutes, a warm cup of cappuccino, dosed with twice the regular amount of espresso shots and cutely decorated with a tiny drawing of cat ears and whiskers, stares Jaemin in the eye as it sits patiently in front of him. Jaemin carefully lifts it to his lips, taking a small sip, licking his lips then gulping the whole cup down in one go. He shoots Jeno a grateful look. 

Jaemin has a slight milk foam moustache framing his lips. Jeno opens his mouth, closes it, then resignedly fumbles for a handkerchief in his pockets to hand to Jaemin. When he glances at him with a questioning look, Jeno points at the corner of his own mouth. “The milk got on your lips.”

A cheshire grin spreads across Jaemin’s face. “Wipe it for me? I don’t have a mirror.”

Even the simplest of flirty comments leave Jeno’s ears flushing tomato red. It’s unfair, really — there’s a food chain, and people like Jaemin sit at the top of it, while Jeno’s barely holding on. “I know you can do it yourself. Just do it.”

Jaemin sends him another blinding smile that shows off some of his perfectly straight, white teeth. He has dimples, Jeno notes. There’s a light glimmering in his eyes before it’s gone again, and the dull, exhausted mask that Jeno’s come to be very familiar with settles over his pretty features. 

“Jaemin.” Jeno’s eyebrows furrow as he meets Jaemin’s curious stare. “You haven’t been yourself lately. Why?”

Jaemin’s eyes crinkle up into half moons, but it’s weak. “Tired,” he states. “I’m swamped with assignments. Before you ask,” he holds up a hand, “it’s not limited to just essays. In Muggle unis, there’s stuff such as group projects aside from the usual termly exams. And as you probably know, there are the assholes in every group who don’t do their share.” Jaemin grabs his laptop and sets it down on the table a little harshly. “This time around, I’ve gotten stuck in a group where all.  _ All _ of them are assholes.”

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising? It’s my luck in the end. This whole ordeal makes me feel like one of those burnout gifted students. Perhaps I am already.”

Jaemin continues his rant for a while, until he starts typing furiously on his MacBook and goes quiet. The calming clicks of his fingers against the keyboard are somniferous to Jeno’s ears, and he wonders how Jaemin hasn’t given in to sleep as he leans back in his seat and stretches his arms lazily, resembling a cat. Every fifteen minutes or so, he would tilt his head a little to the side and crack his neck, rolling his shoulders out of habit to get the soreness out. 

Jeno’s always been kind of smart. It showed when his professors at Hogwarts called him out to do demonstrations for the others during Transfigurations or to ask him to brief his classmates on certain mixing techniques in Potions. Book smart. He’s book smart — he can absorb and memorise reading materials in limited amounts of time, and his answering abilities are better than average.

Jaemin is different. There’s a quick-wittedness about him that either has other people on their guard around him or coaxes them to drop their walls entirely. He doesn’t have a sharp tongue (unlike Donghyuck or Renjun, who have the foulest mouths he’s ever experienced), nor is he mercilessly honest like Chenle. However, Jaemin has a strange way with words that Jeno presumes partially comes from his magic. Some people are distinguishable by their auras, and Jaemin had been marked out by Jeno from the start as a dangerously intelligent person who knows what he’s doing.

Jeno is among those who have been irrevocably charmed by Jaemin Na. Once you've tripped, you can't get up, and as threatening as it sounds to Jeno it's true. He runs his fingers along the perfect, unmarred surface of the table and wonders how long it'll take before he falls completely.

He realises that it's pretty inevitable so he gives in. "I'll leave you to it. Don't overwork yourself, okay? Won't be good for business if you turn up dishevelled again tomorrow."

Jaemin flashes him another grateful look and nods. Even when there's dark circles under his eyes and his lips are pursed into a thin line, Jeno still thinks he looks beautiful. A rare type of beauty that's evergreen and which changes depending on his condition. When Jaemin's happy, there's an adorable, childlike excitement around him. When he's in anything less than a good mood, he becomes a mature type of irresistible.

Jaemin doesn't move from his spot all day long. He sits rooted to the couch, eyes never lingering on anything other than the computer screen for too long, and his fingers fly across the keyboard like his life depends on it. (It probably does.) Jeno stops by every now and then, sometimes accompanied by Renjun who tries to force him to go to the  _ toilet _ at least once or Chenle who pokes at Jaemin's sides until he realises that Jaemin is far from ticklish.

Finally, while Renjun is arguing with Jaemin in an attempt to scrape him off the chair, Jisung pops down opposite to Jaemin and asks him, with very large coochie eyes (as Donghyuck would call them), why he's overworking himself. A few minutes later, his laptop bag is slung comfortably across his shoulder and Jaemin's stepping out into the snow-covered street outside.

Jeno watches him leave, and makes a decision.

A few hours later, he finds himself standing in front of a white, wooden door. There's a keypad built into it that stares back at Jeno, and he has no idea how to work it. He assumes that it's the lock, so he rings the doorbell. A song starts playing faintly from inside the apartment (positions by Ariana Grande — the fact that Jaemin is an Arianator is news to him) and it doesn't take long before he hears a panicked yelp.

The door beeps, swinging open to a very flustered Jaemin, who has a towel hanging from his neck and water dripping down to the floor tiles from his hair. He's dressed very comfortably in a baggy white T-shirt that proclaims his love for Twilight Sparkle and shorts. Jeno's never seen this side of Jaemin before, he realises.

"Jeno," Jaemin gasps out. He's noticeably out of breath — Jeno must've disturbed him while he was in the shower. "Why are you here? It's almost eleven at night."

Jeno gestures to the plastic bag he's carrying. "Brought you food. You didn't eat before you left, so I figured that you're either going to starve yourself for today or you'd cook instant noodles, which is unhealthy."

Jaemin's mouth drops open. He looks at the bag for a while, eyes flitting between the food and Jeno's face, before a grin blooms across his face. Stepping aside, Jaemin holds the door open and bows. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Jeno carefully walks through the doorway, scanning his surroundings. It's a moderately sized apartment, furnished carefully with a spacious living room dominated by a gigantic rug. There's a very homely aura, Jeno notices. There's a collage of picture frames hanging on the wall next to the television, and it's all of—

Jaemin steps in front of Jeno, effectively blocking his view. He shooes Jeno over to the dining table. An attempt at distraction, but Jeno lets it slide. "How did you get here? I don't remember giving you my address."

Jeno sets down the bag on the table gently. "The staff log. Donghyuck has access to it, so I asked him for it."

"So you searched for it without my permission, yes?"

Jeno's eyes snap up to meet Jaemin's, and he begins to stutter out an apology, but Jaemin is grinning. Of course. Jeno sighs and pulls out the chair from under the table, flopping onto it. He waves his hand in the direction of the food. "Eat it. I have no energy to make you. It was all spent on trying to find your apartment. Apparently magic GPS doesn't exist, and it's forbid by the law to try to use magic to locate people's houses."

Jaemin's eyebrows raise, and the corner of his lips droop slightly. "You shouldn't have come."

Jeno waves him off, rising to sit back straight in the chair and shoving the bag towards Jaemin. "Just eat, it's fine."

It's a miracle that Jeno gets Jaemin to eat in the end, but he'd had to guilt trip him with an exaggeratedly loud yawn before anything happened. It's funny how Jaemin had denied the food, just minutes before he'd started shovelling the fried rice into his mouth, only pausing for breaks in between to catch his breath and enjoy its fragrance. Jaemin had never really watched himself around Jeno, unlike how he meticulously piles his food onto his spoon prior to making sure not a single bit falls out when his lips close over it, but he's currently abandoning all his dignity as he eats.

When Jaemin eats his last bite and puts his spoon down on the table, Jeno reaches for the backpack he'd brought along and fumbles around with its contents. He pulls out a slightly heavy stack of books and places it in front of Jaemin with a thud. He shoots Jeno a questioning look.

"These are reference books. Chenle's, to be exact. Not sure why his family has a whole shelf of biochem-related books — is this an  _ encyclopedia? _ — but I think these'll help you. It would take time to head to the campus library, especially without magic, so I thought of bringing these."

Jeno finishes rattling off the book titles one by one and looks up to meet Jaemin's gaze. Jaemin's looking at Jeno like he's a messenger from heaven, and to his shock, his eyes are glistening.

"You, Jeno Lee," Jaemin declares loudly while sniffling, "are my goddamn saviour. I really don't know how to thank you, fuck."

Jeno smiles weakly. Jaemin's looking at him like  _ that _ — like he's the centre of Jaemin's universe — and he can barely find it within himself to muster a grin. A part of him wonders how many people have been subject to this Jaemin before.

Jeno refuses to leave no matter how much Jaemin insists. "You're just going to pull an all-nighter if I leave you here. I'll make sure you finish it ASAP and go to sleep as soon as you're done."

"You're going to distract me, Lee. It's better if you leave," Jaemin argues, but Jeno's not budging, especially when he knows Jaemin doesn't really mean it — he's not using his magic on Jeno yet.

"I'll stay in the living room then. You do your work in your bedroom, right? I'll just take a nap here or something."

Jaemin shakes his head. "You don't understand. Might as well sleep in my bed, then."

Jeno flushes cherry red, the meaning behind the words sinking in quickly, and if flustering Jeno was Jaemin's original intent, it has its effect but it doesn't quite work. "The living room, then. Go do your work."

Soon Jeno is curling up into the cozy three-seater sofa and hugging a pillow against him. A blanket covers him from head to toe (insisted upon by Jaemin), and he realises that it smells like Jaemin. The whole apartment does, he thinks feebly, as expected of his own house.

He tries to sleep, but the image of wide-eyed Jaemin whose eyes are glistening with tears keeps flashing in his mind, and all Jeno can think of is how pretty Jaemin Na is. How much he wants to press his own lips to Jaemin’s.

Jaemin has made his own imprint on Jeno. The thought of that unsettles him, but he somehow slips into the darkness of unconsciousness anyways.

  
  


🌥

The first thing Jeno sees when he opens his eyes is another pair of curious eyes. Glittering, huge ones with very long lashes. After a few seconds, he realises with a jolt that those are  _ Jaemin's _ eyelashes, and that he's practically been staring right into them.

Scrambling to his feet, a rush of apologies bloom from Jeno's mouth. He'd slept through the night at Jaemin's house by accident — completely negating the trouble that he'd gone to last night to visit Jaemin and make sure that he actually slept.

Jaemin just smiles and brushes Jeno off, directing him to the toilet in the other room. It's locked, as he finds, and he tries at the knob again before turning around, debating if he should go into Jaemin's instead. Suddenly, the door behind him swings open with a burst of air, and Jeno jumps, letting out an embarrassing yelp.

He's looking a very groggy Mark Lee in the eye, and Jeno remembers that Mark is Jaemin's roommate. Mark doesn't seem as surprised to see him, unlike Jeno, however. He'd probably seen Jeno sleeping on the couch when he'd came back.

Jaemin pops his head out of his own room. "Bloody hell, Mark Lee? What're you doing here? Thought you weren't coming back today?"

Mark scratches at his head, hands flying to cover his mouth as he begins to yawn. "Was at dinner when my date got  _ proposed _ to. And not by me."

Jeno and Jaemin wince simultaneously. That sounds like a humbling experience. Jeno voices, "Ah, that sucks," for the lack of anything more comforting to say.

Mark hums, brushing past Jeno to turn back into his room. "It's fine. I'm never going out on the blind dates that my mom arranges for me again." He closes the door, gesturing for Jeno to wait. There's a bout of random shuffling and thumps from the inside, but a few minutes later the door swings open again, and Mark bows to welcome Jeno.

Jeno huffs out a breathy laugh before staggering in. It's of approximately the same size as Jaemin's, but there's an entirely different aura about it — what with the gigantic, glowing-rainbow PC setup on the side nearest to the window. A keyboard and a guitar stand flank it, and the whole area takes up more space than his bed and wardrobe do combined.

He cleans up as quickly as possible, trying not to feel slightly grossed out by the way his clothes stick to him. When he finally opens the door to the living room, Jaemin launches at him, and Jeno startles again for the second time in half an hour, stumbling back a little.

Jaemin looks a little undignified at the way Jeno jumps, and holds up a huge, baby blue hoodie in one hand and a simple pair of ripped jeans in the other. "You forgot your wand at home, yeah? Here. Take these. Don't want people to sniff at you while you're taking the Underground back home." He hands them to Jeno, who shoots a glare at him before snatching them from his hands, turning and striding back into the bathroom. Jaemin laughs gleefully from behind him, and the corners of Jeno's mouth tug upwards fleetingly.

When Jeno pads into the living room quietly, he locks eyes with Jaemin. The pink-haired boy looks him up and down, and Jeno swears that his cheeks tinge a little pink before he clears his throat and gives Jeno two thumbs-up. He pats the seat next to him, and Jeno sits down as if in a trance.

Jeno clears his throat. "Did you finish your assignment?"

"Almost." Jaemin reaches to his side and grabs a stack of papers. He ruffles through them and flutters one sheet right in front of Jeno's face. "Just this left! Your sleeping body at night yesterday spurred me on to cram it all in three hours, so thank you."

"Hey," Jeno says indignantly, "you don't sound grateful at all."

Jaemin opens his mouth to speak, but quickly closes it after a moment of thought. Possible reactions to that scenario flash through Jeno's mind. Yup — it was better that Jaemin hadn't said anything, for Jeno's wellbeing.

Jaemin hums instead. "That's what my parents would say, actually." It's a change of topic, and Jeno wonders why Jaemin decided to talk about something that's obviously a sensitive subject. With him, more so. Jeno plays along, though.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." A moment of silence. "You've wondered why I've never mentioned my parents, yeah?"

Jeno nods. "Not once, in the three months that you've started coming to the cafe regularly. Are you on bad terms with them?"

"Kind of. Actually, yeah. To the point that I moved out without telling them anything. Thank god Mark had my back though. He's a family friend, but when I told him I needed a place to stay, he changed his plans to stay alone and rented a larger apartment." Jaemin replies.

"What happened? Why move so far, too — you mentioned that you lived in Nottingham before coming here to London?"

"They tried to marry me off." Jaemin admits. Jeno drops his phone.

"Sorry. What?"

"Ridiculous, right? For the money and connections too." Jaemin rests his head in his palm. "Merlin's beard. Now that I think of it, it sounds like something out of a TV show."

"Are we in the nineteenth century or something? I thought we've moved past arranged marriages."

Jaemin chuckles. "Had no interest in the girl. Honestly, I don't understand them — why did they not let me go to the Muggle university I chose when they barred me from entering a wizarding school when I was a child?"

"So your only job as a child was to get good grades and look pretty. And you outlived one of them, so your purpose changed to making some extra money?" Jeno states plainly.

"Whoa." Jaemin turns to him, eyes widened. "When you put it like that, somehow that makes sense. I guess, yeah. I agree."

"That wasn't fair on you. I'm sorry." Jeno frowns.

"Don't apologise. I don't need the pity." Jaemin sounds sincere. "Besides, I'm doing really good right now! I'm glad that happened, then." Jaemin winks at him. His ears heat up a little, but he doesn't cave.

"Have you talked with them at all since? It's been two years since you've moved out, yeah?"

"Mmhm. It's been a very nice two years. Got into my dream uni, dated a few people, enjoyed life. When I think of how I was back then though... I was so desperate to leave. I feel bad for the Jaemin Na of the past." Jaemin smiles, a little wistful. "Sometimes I cried so much I would get headaches daily. And when I asked for headache tablets my parents would ask if I drank!" He pouts. "I was underage, too. I don't know how they came to that conclusion."

"So they're one of those 'never stay at home' parents who don't give a shit about their child, yeah?" Jeno raises an eyebrow.

Jaemin snaps his fingers. "Correct. Honestly? I don't even care anymore. It was hard when I first moved out because I had a limited amount of money and I'm, well, Korean. People are still racist in this day and age, especially among the Muggles. You have no idea how surprised I was when I met you guys. Relieved, too."

Jeno smiles. "I grew up with Hyuck and Chenle, I guess? I stuck with them for the majority of my Hogwarts years. I met Renjun after we graduated. He showed up at the cafe one day with our hiring poster in hand, told us he was from Mahoutokoro School of Magic in Japan. Jungwoo let him in without hesitation because he could speak so many languages." Jeno breathes a laugh. "Jisung is Chenle's childhood friend. We basically adopted him."

Jaemin nods. "You guys seem really close. By the way," Jaemin leans in as if he's going to whisper a secret to Jeno, "are Renjun and Donghyuck...?"

"Nope." Jeno confirms. "Maybe one day, when they get their shit together. Doesn't seem like anytime soon. I've already given up on them."

When Jaemin leans back into the cushions, he's sporting a grin. It's ominous to Jeno. "Hey. Jaemin. Don't. Whatever you're thinking."

"Okay, okay, fine." Jaemin visibly deflates, sulking. "It would be fun though. Consider it."

Jeno sighs. His eyes flicker to the clock on the wall, and he gasps. His shift. "Hey. I think I should go. It's already— Yeah. I really should go." Jeno flusters. "Keep the books. You can give them back to Chenle yourself when you finish. Bye!"

Jaemin grabs the strings of Jeno's backpack, effectively preventing him from going any further. Jeno coughs a little. "Hey! Let go, Jaem."

Jaemin's eyes light up. "Finally, after I spilled my life story to you, we're on nickname basis! Delightful. Do you want me to walk you to the Tube station,  _ Jen _ ?"

"Nope! Have a great day, please don't overwork yourself again. See you tomorrow!" Jeno practically runs out of the apartment, barely stopping for a second to apologise to Jaemin and promise that he'll wash the clothes and return them to him.

Fast forward twenty-five minutes of travelling, Jeno arrives at the cafe just on time for his shift. Sprint-walking straight past the cat clock, he crumples in a heap behind the counter. Renjun throws him a weird, suspicious look.

"You usually arrive earlier. Where'd you go? I even asked Jungwoo to ask Doyoung whether you went home. He said you didn't go home last night, and that you forgot to text him. The only reason why he didn't call the police was because  _ Jaemin _ texted him to let him know that you're safe." Renjun leans on the counter and over Jeno. "Care to explain?"

"No. Not now." Jeno breathes. "Give me a moment."

"Fine. Later."

Renjun crosses his arms, and Jeno knows that he's going to be in for some trouble later. For now, he smiles weakly at Renjun and grabs his wand for battle.

  
  


🌥

It's a bright, sunny day, and Jaemin slams his palm down onto the counter right in front of Jeno. It makes the books leap off the table and Seol squawk in indignity.

"I need something sugary. Very sugary. I don't mind what you get me." He pauses. "Well, don't make me anything with strawberries in it. Other than that I don't care. Thank you." Jaemin practically sprints to the table and unloads his stationery so fast that Jeno thinks they're gonna break if he doesn't stop smashing them onto the table.

Jeno turns to Donghyuck. "Sugary drinks."

Donghyuck shrugs. "Perhaps an ice cream latte? You have an obsession with matcha ice cream, so why not try to make one? If he likes it you can even ask Jungwoo to add it to the menu."

Jeno hums and gets to work. As he levitates the bottle of green liquid in the air with his wand and shakes it, he calls out to Donghyuck. "Pass the sugar? The one that has a lightning symbol on it. It's the extra-energy one."

Donghyuck swipes it up from the magic salts-and-sugars shelf and tosses it towards Jeno, who smoothly catches it out of the air. Energising drinks are his specialty, so Jeno concludes that this'll definitely help Jaemin.

"Whoa, Jeno. You're in a good mood today," Donghyuck remarks.

Jeno hums thoughtfully. "Renjun and Chenle finished the majority of the errands for this week. Renjun also took care of the new love potion batch that just came in for Valentines Day next month. I don't really have anything to do."

"Good for you." Donghyuck groans. "Jaehyun's moving to London soon."

"Jaehyun? Your Muggle cousin living in the States? Why?"

"Don't know either. He's been refusing to tell me. If he's getting married and he's not telling me, I will fillet him." Donghyuck swears.

"I doubt that. So you've been helping him move, yeah?"

"Yup. I looked for apartments. Thank Merlin he's decently rich, otherwise it would've been ten times more difficult. I found him a place a few stations away, and he's coming over next week."

Jeno pats him on the back, and Donghyuck leans on Jeno. He tries to shake him off, but Donghyuck doesn't let go, clinging on like a koala does to a eucalyptus tree. "Hey! Get off me, I'll spill the drink."

Donghyuck flashes Jeno a winning grin before he snatches up the drink, taking it to the front, and Jeno lets out a breath that he hadn't noticed that he'd been holding. Donghyuck is very affectionate, to say the least, and where his sharp words cut through flesh, his careful touches and warm hugs make up for. He's blinding, as everyone finds out when they meet Donghyuck for the first time. Some say that he's too much to handle, but those are usually excuses used in lieu of admitting that they're scared away by his silver tongue and sharp edges.

He's always been good — too good, perhaps — in expressing his emotions through words. Jeno thinks it's what had drawn Jeno to Donghyuck that first day after the Sorting. They were placed in different houses, Jeno declared as a Gryffindor and Slytherin claiming Donghyuck, but they balance each other out well.

Renjun and Donghyuck, however, are an entirely different story. Putting them together in a room would open up a 50/50 chance — they'd either break out into another argument or do something behind closed doors that Jeno doesn't really want to think about. Both are extremely emotionally constipated people who enjoy burying their emotions under piles of discarded fast food containers. No one else volunteers to clear out the trash for them, so it's a ticking time bomb until one of them lights on fire.

Jeno realises that he's been standing there, frozen still where Donghyuck had left him, so he snaps out of his daze. Jungwoo's been missing from the cafe on a streak of almost a week now (only his brother, Doyoung, knows of his whereabouts, and he won't say anything to Jeno), so Jeno's had to take over his management duties. It's troublesome, and he's had to rewrite their work timetables more than once already due to Jaemin pleading for changes in schedule. His hand flutters to his mouth instinctively as he yawns.

Out of the corner of his vision, Jeno spots the newly-installed beanbag Chenle had brought in the other day. At this rate, no matter how much caffeine is running in his blood, Jeno might pass out on the spot. He decides that he's going to take a nap.

As Jeno closes his eyes, he thinks of Renjun and Donghyuck. Chenle and Jisung. 

Then his mind drifts to thoughts of Jaemin Na, and instead of the breathless feeling that comes when he thinks about the beautiful pink-haired boy, there's a sense of finality that rests peacefully in his chest. 

It's a realisation, and although it's a silent one, it stills his heart.

  
  


🌥

The world trembles around him, and momentarily Jeno assumes that there's been an earthquake before he opens his eyes to survey the possible damage and realises that natural disasters rarely occur in London. Instead, Renjun is shaking his beanbag with an unusually strong intensity, yelling at Jeno with words that he can't make out.

Rubbing his eyes blearily, Jeno gestures that he's awake for Renjun to stop yanking on the fragile cloth before it creates a bigger mess than there probably already is. "What's wrong," Jeno mumbles groggily. "Did you know I got less than six hours of sleep last night—"

"Jaemin." Renjun states. His voice wavers a little, a red flag. "It's Jaemin."

Jeno's eyebrows shoot up immediately. Renjun's neck is flushed red and it's usually the telltale sign that he's extremely anxious. It must be something really drastic for Renjun to react this badly.

"Jaemin? As in Jaemin Na? What happened?"

Renjun looks Jeno dead in the eye and takes a breath. "There's a whole crowd mobbing Jaemin outside. They're screaming and squealing and I don't know what Jaemin's on because he's completely out of control. He's flirting with them and his magic is also off its leash."

Jeno sits up too quickly and falls off the beanbag.

  
  


🌥

When he first catches a glimpse of the apocalypse, Jeno freezes. He wonders if he's still dreaming.

Renjun's grip on his arm falters at the sight, and then he lets go entirely. They come to a standstill, and so does Jeno's previously racing train of thoughts. He's not sure if the scene in front of him is real or not, but he's just stepped onto something (what, he can't identify) and it digs into his shoe-less feet, so he's probably not astral projecting.

'Mob' is probably the most accurate word to describe the scene unfolding right before him. He can count about thirty people flanking the counter alone, all scrambling towards the epicentre of the disaster like moths to flame. Except they are drooling insects whose eyes are swimming with pure, liquid adoration, and that it isn't quite their fault because the flame is literally hypnotising.

Jeno catches sight of Jaemin and—

"Oh, everyone's here! That's really nice, thank you so much for coming!" Jaemin cooes, voice dripping with sickly sweet honey and magic interlaced within his words. He grabs the slightly mottled hand of a middle-aged lady and begins to lift it to his lips. Jeno's mouth drops in horror, but Jaemin takes a whiff of it instead. "Madame, your perfume today is  _ divine _ . It perfectly suits your outfit. You look  _ beautiful _ today, I must say."

Jaemin takes his eyes off the first lady and zeroes in his attention onto the student next to her. He gasps softly and cups the boy's face in his cheeks, caressing them in wonder. "Oh my! Your cheeks are so  _ soft _ ." Squish. "Can I kiss you?"

Jeno senses danger and sprints to Jaemin, tearing his hands off his poor victim's face. "Jaemin, what in bloody hell are you doing—"

"Jeno! You're here!" Jaemin flings his arms around him at lightning speed, wrapping him in a tight embrace, and heat rushes to Jeno's face so quickly he thinks he's losing blood in his legs. "My knight in shining armour. Shall we go out on a dinner date? Escape this dreary place."

"Jaemin." Jeno gasps for air. "Is this magic?"

"You got it!" Jaemin winks. "I had no idea you were this good at Charms? I've completely fallen under your spell!"

Renjun groans from behind Jeno. Jaemin picks up on the noise, and his eyes swivel to him, lighting up. "Renjunnie! Oh look at you, why are you frowning? It doesn't suit your pretty face." Jaemin pauses for a second, hands loosening their grip on Jeno, and he tears away to breathe. "Wait, scratch that. It's really appealing on a face like yours. A bad boy concept! It totally suits you.  _ Love _ it."

Renjun looks like he wants to strangle Jaemin when he leaps in Renjun's direction. Jaemin's hands immediately go to Renjun's face, trying to run a fingertip across his lips but Renjun stops him midway. "Jeno, for Merlin's sake! Can someone tie him up or something? He's a broken machine!"

"I got it, I got it," Jeno yells, diving for the first thing that he can think of. Pebbles is purring comfortably on the clock, tail swinging along on beat, so Jeno scoops her up and rushes back to Jaemin. He shoves Pebbles into Jaemin's arms, forcing him to stop affectionately (one-sided) grappling with Renjun and to catch her.

"You cutie, oh my God!" Jaemin snuggles Pebbles into his chest. "Do you have a home? I'll bring you home tonight." He staggers off with a very heavy cat draped across his chest and plops into the nearest seat, all the while murmuring sweet nothings to her.

Renjun turns to the crowd, who are gazing at Jaemin in unveiled curiosity. "Get out, get out! Sorry for the disruption, but this isn't an animal attraction for you to gawk at. Though he might as well be." Renjun mutters the last bit under his breath and shoots a sideways glare at Jaemin, who doesn't notice at all.

"What do we do with him," Jeno deadpans.

"I don't know," Renjun sighs. "Call Jungwoo, pronto. Doyoung, too."

Jeno has never moved faster for the telephone in his life.

  
  


🌥

Jaemin is sitting on the couch, whispering softly to the giant grey cat huddled in his arms, completely oblivious to their staring.

Doyoung leans in to have a better look at Jaemin, and winces. "This can't be easily fixed."

"What?" Jeno exclaims, and Jaemin turns his head to glance at Jeno for a second, before humming contentedly and continuing to pet Pebbles.

"How do we get him back to normal, then?" Renjun questions. "He's going to be a  _ lot _ of trouble to deal with. I don't think we can afford to just leave him like this."

"Well, this looks like the effects of a love potion to me." Doyoung points at Jaemin's eyes. "They're slightly lighter than their original colour. A mild potion, but a strong one at the same time. What happened to him in the first place?"

A moment of silence ensues before Donghyuck clears his throat. Everyone's focus switches quickly to him, and Jeno narrows his eyes at Donghyuck.

"The Valentine's Day love potion salts. Pretty sure I grabbed a shaker full of that instead of sugar," Donghyuck admits. For once, there's an expression akin to shame on his face.

Renjun's eyes blaze, and Jeno decides that he doesn't like the look of where this is heading. "You what?" Renjun blurts out.

Donghyuck's wearing his 'stubborn' face, and he shoots a cold look back at Renjun. "I wasn't the one who switched them out. I reached for the sugar on the right shelf, I just didn't look at the label."

Spluttering, Renjun seems to be at a loss for words. Jeno admires his self-control, because anyone else would've leapt at Donghyuck by now.

"The main problem is," Jungwoo cuts in, sighing, "how do we deal with an out-of-commission Jaemin? When does this spell wear off?"

"That stock of potion salt was meant specially in preparation for Valentine's Day. It wears off the day after Valentine's, or it can be broken by true love's kiss." Doyoung squints at the calendar hanging next to the cat-clock. "It's the fifth of January. It'd take more than a month for the potion to wear off. Does Jaemin have a significant other?"

All at once, Renjun, Donghyuck and Jungwoo turn to Jeno, but he's rendered speechless. "No. He doesn't," Jeno states glumly.

Doyoung shakes his head. "It can't be helped, then. You have to wait until it wears off during Valentine's. Either that, or get him a date. Although I have no idea whether he's capable of developing romantic feelings towards someone in that state."

A heavy silence hangs over them like the fog shrouding Hogwart's dungeons. Jeno gulps and shoves the dread rising in his throat down. A whole month – more than that. That means a whole month of term gone for Jaemin.

"I've contacted Mark. The thing is: he went back to Canada a week ago to visit his family and meet some long-lost cousin of his. No one'll be at Jaemin's apartment to take care of him." Jeno groans, and he allows his head to thud against the desk. "One of us has to stay with him overnight to make sure he eats and doesn't do anything stupid. Like proposing to someone and eloping with them."

Jaemin's ears perk up at the mention of the word 'proposal'. "Proposal?" He muses, tapping a finger against his chin in thought. "That doesn't sound bad at all." He fixes his eyes on Jeno. "Do you think someone will marry me? One moment — how about you, handsome?"

Jeno's going to faint. His soul is leaving his body bit by bit.

"Donghyuck can't cook food outside of instant noodles. Chenle's overseas too, at the moment. Trusting Jisung with Jaemin is even worse than leaving Jaemin by himself." Renjun ticks off the list of potential Jaemin-sitter candidates one by one. "That leaves me and you."

"So—"

"You'll take care of him, then? That's settled! I'll take care of your remaining shifts for the rest of the month." Renjun cuts him off, turning to Doyoung and bowing deeply. "Thanks for helping out. You're a great brother."

Doyoung simply smiles placidly back, and casts a sidelong look at Jeno. It's a pitying one. "I'll help you pack up your stuff. You'll be living with him for a while, so you'd need quite a lot of things."

"Wait. Hold  _ up _ ," Jeno splutters. "I didn't get a say in anything!"

Renjun doesn't bother to look back. "It's been decided. Do what you gotta do now." His escape is purposefully quick, and Jeno wonders if the look of betrayal is showing in his expression. He digresses.

Donghyuck pats Jeno's pack in a poor attempt to comfort him. "Mate. Look at the bright side: you'll be spending a lot of time with Jaemin. You like Jaemin, don't you?"

Jeno's pause is more than enough to confirm it. "Spending extra time with Jaemin is what I was actively avoiding. Now he's like... this." Jeno gestures helplessly towards him. "This is worse."

Jaemin chooses the perfect timing to glance curiously at Donghyuck and Jeno. "What is?" His hand pauses mid-stroke, and Pebbles hisses a little. Jaemin continues stroking her, before his eyes land upon Donghyuck and he inhales sharply. "Actually. You’re so gorgeous, Hyuckie. Would you like to marry me?" He says it with every single ounce of magic and charm that he possesses, and Jeno’s knees go a little weak.

Donghyuck seems stunned, the original sharp glint in his eye softening into something dazed and disoriented, a blush quickly rising to his cheeks. That's one point lost for him. Jeno thinks that his mental scoreboard’ll be reaching the negative numbers by the time Valentine’s Day comes around.

  
  


🌥

Next time, Jeno's going to go grocery shopping by himself. With no one else, because it'll inevitably turn out to be a terrible decision.

"Jaemin. Please," Jeno begs, "put that back on the shelf."

Jaemin eyes the bouquet of purple roses, fingering its petals and stroking a finger along the stems. "This is so pretty, though?" He turns back to Jeno, flashing him a questioning look. "Do you like these? They remind me of you. So pretty. Perhaps I'll keep them."

Jeno suppresses the flush blooming across his cheeks the best he can and shakes his head no. "We're not here for those, Jaemin."

Jaemin pouts, eyes reluctantly dropping to the ground. "Ah."

Jeno starts moving along to the next aisle, but when Jeno looks to the side Jaemin is nowhere to be found. He panics for a second before whirling around to see Jaemin. On one knee.

"Roses are red, violets are blue, and these enchanting lilies are for you—"

For a split second, Jeno is rooted to the spot. People are staring, and a mother is covering her child's eyes. Completely and absolutely humiliated, he runs towards Jaemin and hauls him to his feet. His cheeks are burning as he stutters out, "Jaemin! Not in public. We're in public."

Jaemin flushes prettily when Jeno's arms wrap around his waist to stabilise him, like the female lead in a romance manga, and gasps. "Are we going to kiss?"

Not knowing how to respond to that, Jeno shakes his head mutely. "Uh."

Jaemin glares at Jeno with such ferocity he balks. When Jeno tries to tug him along, he doesn't move an inch. "You ruined it! I had such a good idea for the lyrics to serenade you with too."

Jaemin's kind of charismatic when he's mad. Jeno desperately shoves the thought out of his mind, snapping out of his reverie. "Fine," he frantically whispers. "Wait until we get back, okay? I'll cuddle you then."

Almost immediately, a dazzling grin breaks out like the sun rising across Jaemin's face, and Jeno gapes in shock. "Deal! I'll take that."

That was too easy. Jeno worries his bottom lip as he continues on with searching for the rest of the items on his long, long shopping list, Jaemin excitedly skipping on next to him. They pause at irregular moments to satisfy Jaemin's desire to stop and connect each product to random pick up lines.

The next item on the list is a bottle of wine for Doyoung's birthday next week. Jeno stills for a second, unsure — it would be remarkably dangerous, perhaps even fatal, to bring Jaemin into the alcohol section. As he side-eyes Jaemin humming a wedding song and looking at Jeno's reflection through the wine glasses lining the entrance, he makes a decision.

"Jaemin. Stay here, okay? I'll pop right in and get something," Jeno says.

Jaemin chirps his acknowledgement in response, and goes back to examining the wine glass. Jeno really hopes he has the sense to not knock it over.

Breathing a relieved sigh, Jeno steps into the alcohol section and quickly locates a staff member. He momentarily forgets as he reaches into his pocket for his phone and shows a picture of Doyoung's favourite brand of wine to her. By the time he steps back out, Jeno's cradling a bottle of red wine (a boring choice, he knows) like a child, satisfied.

When he does catch a glimpse of Jaemin, however, Jeno's grip falters and he nearly lets it crash to the floor.

Setting the wine down on the nearest shelf he can find, he sprints over to Jaemin and rips his hands away from the lady's cheeks. "Jaemin! What the hell are you doing, I told you not to— nevermind."

Jaemin blinks, eyes widening in innocuous surprise. His eyes are still fixed on the older woman, and he doesn't spare a glance at Jeno. "I was just telling her that her eyes are quite enchanting." He sighs dreamily, and the smile he's wearing doesn't falter one bit. He can tell why the woman was enraptured — although Jaemin's magic probably has something to do with it. "Don't you think so too?"

Jeno grimaces, glancing briefly at the woman out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, absolutely." Grabbing Jaemin's wrist, Jeno bows profusely to the poor lady (who's still frozen to the spot, staring at Jaemin with shimmering eyes; a pang of pity shoots through him) and drags him away. Jaemin refuses to cooperate, digging in his heels and overall making life ten times harder for Jeno.

"Jaemin. We need to leave."  _ Before you assault any more strangers _ , Jeno adds unhelpfully in his head. "Please cooperate with me here, yeah?"

Jaemin's eyes finally lock onto Jeno's and he gasps, as if he's discovered something sensational. "Sure! Anything for you." He looks down at where Jeno's holding onto his wrist and he smiles happily at the sight. "You're holding my hand."

Jeno's going to cry, but at least Jaemin's letting Jeno tug him out of the supermarket and into the parking lot. He somehow manages to open the door to the passenger's seat with one arm very occupied.

"Jaemin. Get in," Jeno grits out. Jaemin is clinging onto his left arm, right hand interlaced with his left, pouting up at him with glittering orbs. The shine in them is unnatural, probably caused by the love potion. He's dazzling, and Jeno's a weak man who gets blinded easily _.  _ " _ Now _ ."

Jaemin gets into the car and obediently clicks his seat belt into place, draping himself over the dashboard as he stares, eyes wide, at Jeno who settles into his place behind the wheel.

"Whoa." Jaemin lets out a little gasp. "You're so hot like this."

Jeno makes a strangled noise from the back of his throat and struggles to keep his foot from accidentally pushing on the 'go' pedal.

  
  


🌥

"Hey, handsome." Jaemin pipes up out of nowhere. He's still staring at Jeno.

Jeno coughs a little. "Yeah?"

Jaemin smiles sweetly, all honeycombs and saccharine, and follows up with such a vulgar pickup line it makes Jeno choke violently and accidentally slam his hand onto the wheel. The car horn screeches, a couple of other vehicles responding similarly with obviously murderous intent.

Mentally, he curses Donghyuck. Fuck Donghyuck lives. Renjun, too. He's going to cut off all contact with them when he gets back to work.

Jaemin claps and grins. "That was a good one! So, do you want to?"

Jeno nearly veers the car into someone's front yard.

  
  


🌥

Halfway through the drive back home, in the midst of trying not to get into accidents, Jeno had been reminded painfully of the fact that he'd left the majority of his groceries at the entrance of the alcohol section. Thus, Jeno concludes that they will have nothing to eat for dinner.

Jeno turns to Jaemin who's excitedly kicking his feet under the white dining island and exhales. "This is all your fault."

Jaemin's eyes widen in terror, and oh  _ no _ , is he going to cry? "Oh no, that's terrible. Did you get hurt?" A pause. "Did  _ I _ hurt you? Do you want me to kiss it better?"

Jaemin stands up abruptly from his chair and rushes over to Jeno, immediately starting to scan him for injuries. His eyes begin to water with quivering tears. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry. I'll do anything—"

Out of sheer panic, Jeno grabs Jaemin's shoulders, stopping him mid-sentence. "No, Jaemin. I'm not hurt." As if on autopilot, he pulls Jaemin into a quick hug and leans his head back. "See? I'm not hurt. I'm so sorry for worrying you. Go sit down. I'll cook for you."

Jaemin looks into his eyes, and it's as if a switch has flipped. Grabbing Jeno, Jaemin crushes him in a bearhug — it's a little too tight for Jeno to breathe properly, but it embarrassingly makes blood rush to Jeno's ears. Jaemin stares into Jeno's eyes as if he's the only person in the room, in London, or even the world. It feels weird to be on the receiving end of this much affection, but Jeno pins it on the fact that Jaemin's under influence.

After Jaemin resumes his feet-kicking at the table, Jeno allows himself to worry. As expected, Jaemin and Mark had used up almost all the ingredients in their fridge, and there's nothing but a carton of eggs in there. When Jeno opens it, to his disappointment, half of it are eggs while the rest are  _ eggshells _ .

"Hey, Jaemin," Jeno calls out to the pink-haired boy.

Perking up from his daydream immediately, Jaemin smiles back demurely. "Yes, darling?"

Jeno resists the urge to cough and asks if there's any food on the shelves.

Jaemin shakes his head no. "Well, I'm pretty sure Mark smuggled some snacks in, but they're under his bed. I could get them for you?"

Jeno deflates. "It's fine, Jaem. Go back to whatever you were doing." God knows what's under the bed with the snacks. He doesn't want to find out, and neither does he want Jaemin to possibly harm himself in fetching them.

Surveying the only thing left in front of him, Jeno cracks his knuckles. It's time to go to war.

  
  


🌥

Jeno curses as a drop of hot oil lands on the back of his palm. He can't even fry eggs. As much as he dislikes Muggle fast food restaurants (their food is  _ cancerous _ — he has also opened his hamburger container once to a living, breathing rat), Jeno's pretty much praying for one to somehow let him after closing hours.

(What's the fucking use of a fast food restaurant if they're  _ not  _ open after 10pm _? _ Jeno really doesn't understand British people, sometimes. Despite having spent his whole life in this cursed country, he still wonders why things work the way they do.)

He doesn't know any cooking spells either. Sure, he works at a cafe, but all he does is brew drinks and try to look pretty for the customers. Therefore, in the end Jeno sucks it up and continues attempting to fry an egg without burning it.

  
  


🌥

After a few minutes, Jeno's still trying to make the egg cook. It's coming along better than before, and he's almost getting the transparent liquid to turn white. His attempts are proved futile when something feathery that feels like _lips_ lands on the back of his neck and Jeno jumps, almost tipping the yolk into the fire.

Jeno whips his head around, and the sight nearly makes him stumble back onto the flames. Jaemin is—

"Jaemin," Jeno breathes, unable to think past the huge Jaemin-filled cloud in his mind, "what the hell."

Jaemin smiles happily, proud for someone who nearly made Jeno ruin their already-ruined dinner. "Did I surprise you?" His lips form a pout. "Your shoulders and neck are so pretty. Next time I should kiss you there more—"

"No," Jeno manages out, "no more next times. Go sit down before I shove you under Mark's bed and make sure you can't get out."

Jaemin winces. "Ew, it's disgusting under there. Please don't do that." He pauses to think. "I'd rather you shove me  _ onto— _ "

" _ Jaemin _ !" Jeno's soul is going to detach from his body. "I'll," Jeno racks his brain for a threat, "I'll hand you over to— Donghyuck. That's right. I'll ask Hyuck to get here and cook for you."

It works. Jaemin frowns at the floor, and back at Jeno. He seems to arrive at a decision. "Okay! Okay, fine. I won't disturb you," Jaemin huffs before turning his back to Jeno and stalking back to the table. Jeno lets out a long sigh, but it's interrupted when Jaemin stops in his tracks and turns right back around.

"You can't cook, can you? Your egg obviously isn't cooking and it won't for another half an hour no matter how much you try because you didn't add cooking oil or butter to the pan before you cracked the egg," Jaemin points out observantly.  _ Ouch _ . Even someone who's deliriously in love with everyone he makes eye contact with can still cook better than Jeno. "I could fry those for you. Or I could cook them with  _ ramyeon _ , if you want that."

Jeno splutters. "Ah. Yeah. Thank you. That would be a great help."

And that's how Jeno ends up sitting quietly at the dining island instead, having switched places with Jaemin who's singing the theme to Hotel Del Luna as soulfully as he can. Jeno mentally applauds him for being able to channel his best Taeyeon.

As Jeno scrolls through his Instagram feed, double-tapping Chenle's latest post with Jisung tagged, he occasionally looks up to check on Jaemin. Fortunately for them both, he seems like he knows exactly what he's doing, despite the potion's effects. Jeno supposes it doesn't affect his ability to take care of himself, and it's a relieving thought.

"Hey, JenJen."

Jeno looks up into Jaemin's glittering eyes, cup of water pausing midway to his lips.

"Now that I think of it," Jaemin starts, "this is really domestic. I'd be a great husband!"

Jeno coughs, blowing air roughly onto the cup and sending droplets of water everywhere. It dawns on him, realisation hitting him like a lightning bolt. Jaemin's right — this is domestic. Painfully so.

He doesn't know what to make of that, so he waves Jaemin's worried fussing and offers to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation off and returns to his phone. He pulls up a cat pictures account and begins to scroll through their feed, double-tapping every single post. Stress therapy, Jeno calls it.

Before long (he's halfway through all the cat posts from the last two years), Jaemin is setting down two steaming bowls of ramyeon. Their sweetly spicy scent wafts up his nose, and suddenly Jeno's hit with strong, inexplicable waves of homesickness. He misses his father's cooking.

"Thank you for the food!" Jaemin chirps happily, despite being the one who made it.

"Thank you for the food," Jeno echoes. He lifts a spoonful of spicy noodles to his mouth and savours the taste. It's the perfect firmness, and the broth tastes great too. "This is amazing, Jaem. You're a really good cook."

Jaemin smirks. "I know, right? I make the best ramyeon. Soy sauce egg rice is another specialty of mine, too. I make it for Mark sometimes, when he asks for it."

A feeling of  _ something _ rushes through Jeno's chest. He's probably hungry.

"I have an idea. I'll wake up tomorrow and make soy sauce egg rice for you!" Jaemin says.

Jeno is physically unable to veto that idea, especially when it involves him getting food and Jaemin. "I'd love that. Thank you."

Jaemin gives Jeno a thumbs-up, grinning with his lips pressed together tightly. It's adorable. Perhaps this love potion is slightly acceptable after all. "I love you so I won't charge you for it."

"That would be very much appreciated, Jaemin." Jeno smiles softly, and his heart picks up its pace a little.

  
  


🌥

The knocking on Jeno's door doesn't stop. It's getting harder to ignore them, and the pillow Jeno has covering his ears doesn't do anything to muffle the noise.

Finally, Jeno caves. He groans, knees thudding harshly against the wooden floor as he rolls off the bed. Immediately getting up, he opens the door, just a slight crack, but it's enough for Jaemin to push his way in and launch himself at Jeno.

"Jeno! Why didn't you open the door the first four times I knocked?" Jaemin questions huffily, and his grip around Jeno tightens. He wonders if Jaemin can feel the way his heart is pounding in his chest.

"You should go sleep in your room. It's getting late," Jeno says as he tries to peel Jaemin off him. Jaemin doesn't relent, so Jeno strains his arms to scoop up Bongsik and shove her into Jaemin's arms, forcing him to let go of Jeno while he tries to catch her. The cat-lover card works once again in Jeno's favour.

"It's kinda empty in my bed. I didn't feel like being alone tonight, so I came to join you. Is that alright?" Jaemin casts a guilty sideways look at Jeno. He plops down onto Jeno's bed uninvited, and scratches between Bongsik's ears while she purrs contentedly.

The only source of lighting comes from the tiny crack in the doorframe to the living room, so Jeno can barely make out anything, but the minimal light falls across Jaemin's face perfectly. He's wearing a baggy T-shirt, but his beauty is unimaginably sharp against the softness of the way he's dressed.

Every angle of Jaemin's features is precise — his eyes glitter with  _ something _ , and the eyelashes that frame that something so carefully flutter as he blinks. Red velvet lips are bridged by a cupid's arrow; the deadly sharpness of a honed dagger contrasting magnificently against the dreamlike, subdued background of clouds.

Jaemin’s beauty is exquisite. That realisation has always stayed by Jeno, but it hits especially now. It's something he always lingers on for a moment longer, drinking in Jaemin's beauty for more than a split second than other people do, but today he lets himself stare. It's a minute that won't last.

Before Jeno can stop himself, the words tumble out of his mouth. "Alright. That's fine."

Jaemin grins, brilliantly bright in the dimness of the room, and collapses onto the bed. When Jeno pokes at him, he scoots over to the right and drapes Bongsik over his torso. A moment's pause. Jaemin lifts Bongsik off his chest and wraps his arms around Jeno, clinging to him like Jeno's his personal bolster. He's glad that Jaemin can't see the heat blooming across his cheeks.

"Is this okay?" Jaemin questions tentatively.

Jeno sighs. "Yeah. Just don't kick me off the bed, or I'll kick you out."

"That's okay! I love you," Jaemin murmurs reverently. It's different — dangerous territory — and Jeno grasps at handholds to keep himself from falling too far.

Jeno's silent reply is something that he'd never announce aloud. It's a confession to himself that unsettles, terrifies him, but it melts away eventually. Within a few minutes, he's drifting off into a dreamless sleep, revelation forgotten and Jaemin snuggled comfortably into his side.

  
  


🌥

It's been a few days (five, precisely) since Jaemin has been quarantined to his house with the disease known to mankind as 'love' accompanied by Jeno.  _ Five days _ , and Jeno wants to pull his hair out already.

Every day without fail, Jeno would wake up to an unusually cheery Jaemin, sitting by Mark's study table whether he's aimlessly fiddling with the documents sprawled all over it or gazing out of the window at the passing morning traffic. Normally Jaemin wouldn't notice, until Jeno grunts or makes any indication that he's awake. The day would start afterwards.

However, there's a familiar thumping on the door to his room, and Jeno turns and tosses in a half-awake condition. It doesn't stop, so he reluctantly stands up and yanks the door open. To zero surprise and only lingering grief at the sleep he would lose, Jeno grabs Jaemin by the waist as the latter tumbles in and sits him gently down onto the bed.

Jaemin blinks twice, and regains his awareness of the surroundings. "Ah. Yes. Thank you, my knight in shining armour." Jaemin looks Jeno's outfit up and down. "In Hello Kitty pajamas."

"Doyoung packed these for me. I didn't even know they were still in there," Jeno defends. Another person to add to his hit list, he notes. Doyoung Lee, among infamous names like Renjun Huang and Donghyuck Lee. 

"They're absolutely adorable on you. You should wear them more," Jaemin states nonchalantly, like he hasn't just made Jeno's cheeks redden so quickly.

"I'll consider it." A moment of awkward silence. "What are you doing here at two in the morning, anyway?"

Jaemin inhales deeply before considering. "Let's eat cereal."

Frowning, Jeno tilts his head slightly. "Cereal? Why? I can make cereal for you in the morning. And if you just wanted to eat at this ungodly hour, you could make it yourself, you know?"

Jaemin sends Jeno a death glare, and he wonders if he's done anything wrong. "I just wanted a reason to be with you," he deadpans, crossing his legs.

It's such a simple, genuine confession that it takes more than a few seconds for Jeno to process Jaemin's given reason. Before he decides to say anything rash, he tells himself that this isn't Jaemin. The normal Jaemin wouldn't say or even think about stuff like this, and Jeno would be taking advantage of the situation if he says yes.

In the end though, Jeno will always relent to Jaemin, and he knows it perfectly well. The moment a flicker of hesitation shows on Jeno's face, Jaemin's already standing up, grabbing Jeno's wrist and leading him out to the living room. He flops lazily onto the sofa and pats the seat next to him. "Come sit. The bowl of cereal's on the table already."

Jeno obediently does as instructed. It's too early to function properly and deny Jaemin of what he wants — not like he's able to during normal hours, anyway.

They sit, shoulder to shoulder as Jeno realises a moment later, in silence. It's comfortable, and Jeno doesn't mind it because he's going to doze off on the couch sooner or later, but Jaemin doesn't seem to like it. After a beat, he twists to face Jeno, bringing his knees up onto the sofa and hugging them.

"We're not talking." He states it plainly, no question in his voice.

"Nice observation," Jeno replies. He's not usually this straightforward, but it's two in the morning and Jeno thinks that he has every right to protest.

"Thank you. Let's do it then," Jaemin says. "Talk, I mean. That's what I dragged you out here for. A midnight date sounds fun."

Jeno hums. "Sure. What do you wanna talk about?"

Jaemin shifts closer to Jeno, looking him in the eye as his own twinkle a little too bright, like the stars he would see in his own hometown. It's intense, even for love-drunk Jaemin, and the tips of Jeno's ears flush. "I'd like to talk about you, yeah? Let's start off simple. How was your day?"

"Jaemin, I spent the whole day with you."

"So you're saying that it was wonderful."

Jeno cracks a smile. "Not quite, but I liked it. You make me food anyways. I feel like I should pay you for preparing steamboat for us." He's still fully conscious of the fact that this Jaemin isn't the actual Jaemin, but he ignores the reminder.

Jaemin waves him off, leaning slowly onto Jeno's shoulder and letting out a content sigh. "There's no need to. You stay home for me, anyways. And also because I love you."

Jeno fiddles with his fingers. "Good to know," he says emptily.

Jaemin purses his lips and grabs his hands. Jeno freezes. "I mean it," Jaemin protests. When he stares at Jeno again, his eyes seem to shimmer even more. It's akin to the image of constellations dancing in the indigo sky his mother would often conjure on the ceiling of his bedroom. "I love you, Jeno Lee."

Jeno smiles, albeit wistfully. "Sure you do. I think you should get to bed."

He receives a glare in response. In a flash, Jeno is lying flat on his back, Jaemin's arms bracketing his head and a wicked, wicked grin gracing his features. Jeno's brain whirs to life frantically at the fact that Jaemin's  _ on top of him _ and then promptly shuts down.

"It's comfortable like this," Jaemin murmurs. "How about this?"

Jeno stammers out a weak "Sure," and Jaemin instantly retracts his arms and drops down next to Jeno. Fortunately (he corrects himself: very unfortunately) for Jeno, there's just enough space on the spacious sofa to accommodate two people lying side by side, although it's a little cramped. Somehow, for reasons he can't quite place, Jeno finds himself leaning into Jaemin's touch. 

Jeno doesn't really know how he falls asleep like that either, when he's snuggled into Jaemin's embrace like that. Jaemin had whispered something along the lines of “Go to sleep, Jen,” with his magic carefully interlaced within his words, and Jeno had went out like a light. 

When he wakes up, the first thing he sees is Jaemin's eyelashes. They're as long and beautiful as ever, and they flutter in his sleep. His lips purse a little, and Jeno takes extra care not to breathe too heavily lest: 1) Jaemin feels it and wakes up, or 2) Jaemin  _ smells _ it and wakes up, which is an infinitely worse alternative.

Be that as it may, Jaemin stirs and his eyes flicker open. Shock flits so quickly across his face that Jeno almost doesn't catch it, but in the blink of an eye it's gone and a simple look of gentle happiness blooms across his face. It's soft — so soft, and it feels like a dream.

"Ah, you're awake. Morning, Jeno!" Jaemin says cordially. “Did you have a good rest? I hope so.”

(Jeno soars, plummets, flies upwards, cuts through the clouds — turbulence of the heart. It's relieving and painful in its uncertainty. What Jeno does know for sure is that he would never give this up.)

  
  


🌥

Jeno faces the looming danger of the threat known to Jeno-kind as Jaemin's lips very, very often in the ten days he spends in Jaemin's habitat.

He'd be lounging on the couch, when Jaemin would plant a loud, smacking kiss on the nape of his neck, prompting Jeno to jump as high as the ceiling goes. (He thanks Merlin that he doesn't float like he'd used to when he was a child.) Jeno would be watching a movie in silence, eyes focused entirely on the television, so he'd be caught completely off-guard when Jaemin lands a kiss on his cheek, dropping his popcorn bucket to have the kernels spill out onto the couch. (He'd scolded Jaemin for that.)

Jeno's surprised that Jaemin's never attempted to kiss him full on the lips. But then again — this is love-drunk Jaemin who'd flirt with a lamppost if Jeno let him. A love-drunk Jaemin who supposedly doesn't have his wits about him still knows not to cross the line even under a spell.

A line that's stretching thinner and thinner by day. Jeno wonders when it'll snap. He doesn't let himself linger on the thought. Hope is useless and what he daydreams about are just dreams.

So Jeno goes about his day, trying his best to ignore the painful tightening in his chest every time he locks eyes with Jaemin Na.

  
  


🌥

Jeno's bad luck comes turning a one-eighty to bite him right in the ass.

The only lightbulb that had been lighting up Jeno's room flickered out grimly above his head. One thing led to another, and now Jeno's trying his best  _ not _ to tumble off the ladder and split his skull open on the wooden floor.

"Hey, I can help—"

Jeno gestures at Jaemin to hand him the spare lightbulb. "For the last time, no, Jaem." Jeno may not know how to tighten a loose bulb, but he has no certain way of making sure Jaemin has the credentials to do so either, thus Jeno's taking one for the team.

"I know how to replace lightbulbs." Jaemin states firmly.

"Maybe you just want to — I don't know. Get up here and purposely fall off so I'll catch you in my arms and bridal carry you to the bed. No means no." Jeno knows his reason sounds like bullshit, but it's reasonable enough when one considers the fact that Jaemin's under a love potion. He'd do anything.

"That's a good idea, but I swear on my life that that's not the case right now."

Jeno wobbles a little, and time stops for a few scary seconds. He regains his balance, thankfully.

"I have magic hands—" Jeno grimaces at the word choice, "—and I've been screwing and unscrewing light bulbs for my whole life, unlike you. You're going to fall off any minute now, and I can't have the love of my life dying on me, no matter how romantic that sounds."

"It's a tempting idea," Jeno mutters under his breath.

"I can hear you," Jaemin reminds him. Jeno humphs and turns back to the socket and begins examining it. On the outside, he looks like he's checking the condition of the light fixture. On the inside, he's thinking about spells that he could probably use to cushion his fall should he lose his balance. At least, until he remembers that his wand had been left to rot pitifully in the living room.

When he falls, he dies. That's a comforting thought.

He needs the screwdriver. Jeno waves his right hand again to the back, making small grabbing motions towards Jaemin. A pin drops.

Frowning, he waves his hand with more force, not quite caring if it smacks into Jaemin's face. "Jaemin? What're you doing?" Silence. "Jaemin?"

Suddenly struck with a bolt of fear, Jeno whips his head around to look for the pink-haired boy. Nowhere to be found. Did he go to the living room? But he didn't hear the telltale sound of the door creaking open. The curtains framing the open window by the desk flutter with the wind, and Jeno gapes at it in horror. No fucking  _ way _ .

Jeno curses the gods in his head, leaning back to see if he could catch a glimpse of where Jaemin could have possibly climbed out. They'd relocated to Jeno's house mid-isolation as Doyoung had gone overseas to visit their parents in Seoul — unlike Mark and Jaemin, Jeno lives in a house and not an apartment, so it's perfectly plausible for Jaemin to have climbed out onto the roof. For  _ what _ reason is still beyond his mind's reach.

Jeno leans back further. And further.

He doesn't quite realise that he's let go of the ladder before he's midair — then suddenly pain rockets through his lower back and ass and he can't quite think past it.

A resounding  _ fuck _ echoes through his mind. Did he break something? His tailbone must've cracked. As he shifts slightly he winces, the pain shooting through his nerves. He shouldn't move, then.

He doesn't hear the door to the bathroom crashing open before Jaemin kneels down beside him, lips formed into a mute 'O' and eyes widened in pure horror.

"Shit, fucking hell, Jeno Lee! Are you okay, what the  _ fuck _ —" Jaemin's rambling, trying to lift him into a sitting position. Needless to say, Jeno yelps in pain, hands flying to his back.

"Oh my God. You shouldn't have done this. I told you," Jaemin half-yells, trying to scoop up Jeno into his arms. Somehow, he manages to lift Jeno to the bed without his knees giving way. How does he do it? "Don't you  _ dare _ die on me, Jeno."

"I’m not even bleeding—"

Jeno is silenced with a press of lips against his  _ own _ . It's fleeting and chaste, but it effectively takes away his ability to speak for an indefinite length of time.

"I don’t care. Well, maybe I do. So please, shut up while I go get the first-aid kit." Jaemin instructs sternly. He flees the scene before Jeno as much as opens his mouth.

It's way too late to process what just happened in the last sixty seconds. Jeno closes his eyes and hopes that he  _ does _ , in fact, pass away so that all his troubles evaporate and that he won't have to face them afterwards.

  
  


🌥

As promised, Jaemin returns with a first-aid kit he'd somehow managed to find, cradling it in his arms and dropping it onto the floor when he reaches the foot of the bed. Rummaging furiously through the box, he barely spares Jeno a glance.

"Jaemin. I said I don't need any medical supplies. I just need to continue lying here and my butt  _ will _ feel less sore sooner or later." Jeno watches Jaemin, who's still mutely digging through the box. He pauses though, and glances briefly at Jeno before letting out a long sigh.

"You're right." A moment of silence. "Perhaps I could use the cotton to cushion where you landed on—"

"No, Jaemin. You won't."

Jaemin lets out a loud harrumph and crosses his arms, obviously sulking. He turns to face the wall opposite Jeno. A few awkward seconds later, Jaemin turns back towards Jeno.

"Do you want another kiss to make it feel better—"

Jeno shakes his head no. Jaemin deflates, and Jeno automatically feels bad because it's Jaemin and he never has the heart to deny him, especially if he's facing a moment of weakness like this.

"Fine, fine. I'll go make some tea. It's a family recipe, and if I use a certain herb it'll make all types of sores go away. If you'll excuse me." Jaemin bows, somehow managing to make the action look indignant, and stalks off to the kitchen.

Jeno waits in silence before another crash resounds through the house, followed by a dull  _ thump  _ and it's enough to get Jeno leaping out of bed despite his painfully aching back and out the room. Hobbling down the stairs in his reduced state  _ hurts _ and Jeno's never wished for death more in his entire twenty-two years of life.

When he rounds a corner, panting as he leans on the doorframe for energy, he finally catches a glimpse of Jaemin Na, in all his majest, sprawled across the floor and very much knocked out. K.O. Unconscious. Out of the game.

For a second, Jeno wonders if he's dead and if the effects of the love potion finally wore him out but then he realises Jaemin's chest is still moving up and down. That's one concern crossed off his list. His standards of what’s considered a good thing have been lowered beyond the Earth’s crust.

If this doesn't kill him today, Jeno decides that he's most likely immortal. He doesn’t want to die today, so he dials for the cafe.

  
  


🌥

No one says a word when Jeno and Chenle lug Jaemin into the cafe and set him down on the nearest bench. It's like the pregnant pause in horror movies after the protagonist opens the door, and the horrid monster is set to launch itself at them.

Jisung is the first one to break the silence. "Uhm. Is he dead?"

"You should be asking me that," Jeno responds, words rushing out of him in a frenzy. "I don't make sense. But on behalf of this goddamn idiot: no. He is not okay, but he is not dead. Someone get Jungwoo. My brother, too."

Jisung nods in kind understanding (Jeno wants to hug him  _ so bad _ ) and scurries to the back room. Donghyuck pokes his head out at the commotion, but he doesn't bat an eye at Jaemin's body.

"Welcome back," Donghyuck drones, looking completely disinterested. "How may I help you?"

Jeno points an accusing finger at Donghyuck, whose eyebrows lift a little. "This is entirely your fault. I will kill you."

Donghyuck shrugs. "Renjun didn't come to work today. What's wrong with Jaemin?"

Jeno grits his teeth. "Good for him. He didn't answer my calls and texts for two whole weeks. Jaemin passed out after I fell from the top of a ladder and he kissed me." Donghyuck pales slightly, finally starting to look concerned, but Jeno doesn't let him speak and steamrollers on. "Let's wait for Doyoung to get here. He should be able to figure out what's wrong."

  
  


🌥

It turns out that the simple press of Jeno's lips against Jaemin's had broken the spell. Jeno's still failing to comprehend the happenings of last night, so he leans against the counter wearily and tries not to melt against it.

"Jeno. The spell's worn off — you can stop staring at him now. He won't do a thing."

Jeno barely glances at Chenle, keeping his eyes fixated on a very animated Jaemin having Donghyuck in a stranglehold. "This doesn't feel quite real. How was it so simple?"

Chenle sighs. "True. You just — kissed him — and then he's all peachy again? No more trying to kiss you or us or any more horrendous pickup lines? That's an anticlimax. I think it's because of the fact that it was made commercially for Valentine's Day."

"But to be fair, he was the one who kissed me. And it was barely anything, too. It lasted for a split second, and he was running off downstairs. Where he proceeded to faint."

"Near-death experiences make you realise a lot of things," Chenle states.

Jeno raises an eyebrow at him. "I guess you've had your fair share?"

"Kind of." Chenle shrugs. "Now Jaemin doesn't remember a thing. How long will it take before he squeezes the truth out of Jisung?"

Jeno's eyes worriedly flit to Chenle's smug grin. "Oh, no. I didn't even consider that. Can you somehow keep him from doing that? I think you can."

Chenle tilts his head infuriatingly. "I'll try my best. "

Closing his eyes, Jeno slides down the wall. He holds his breath and tries to pass out.

  
  


🌥

Jeno talks to Renjun a grand total of one time in two whole weeks.

To be fair, Renjun had declined his call every time he dialled his number, so it isn't Jeno's fault. No matter how many times he switches from cursing to pleading to nearly crying in his voicemail, Renjun never picks up.

Thus, the first time Jeno sees Renjun is when the latter shows up at Jeno’s door.

After Doyoung's visit and announcement that the spell had been lifted from Jaemin, Jeno had decided that it was safe to go home and take a twenty-four hour nap in an attempt to recover. Before he knew it, he was at his door and walking straight to his bedroom with sneakers on. Almost immediately, he collapses onto the bed and doesn't move.

However, God hates him, and the doorbell meows annoyingly loud. It's only after it rings thrice when Jeno fights to get on his feet, nearly going weak-kneed multiple times before reaching the hallway.

Upon spying the brunette's signature glare through the peeping hole, Jeno yanks the door open roughly. Renjun almost falls through, but steadies himself in the end.

"Nice to meet you. What's your name?"

Renjun laughs breezily, swatting at the hand Jeno had grudgingly stuck out. "Glad to see you haven't died, Jeno Lee."

Jeno bristles. "On the other hand, I am  _ not _ glad to see you. Did you go to hell and back when I was gone? What was so drastically life-changing that you didn’t show up to work and failed to even send a message back the thirteen times I've phoned you, Renjun Huang?"

Renjun completely ignores Jeno's question and goes straight to interrogating him. "What happened to Jaemin? I heard from Hyuck that he's alright now? Did you guys make up? Out?"

It takes a couple of minutes for Jeno to finish explaining everything in detail, choosing wisely to leave out the part where Jaemin had nearly made him crash his car. The look in Renjun's eyes gets further away with every word Jeno utters.

"So," Jeno laces his fingers, "that's it."

Renjun stares back at him. "I don't know how to respond to you right now."

"That's fair. It was my initial reaction, too."

"It was probably so easy because those Valentine's Day love potion salts were just commercially made to serve as harmless charms for the holiday. They were expensive, but they weren't meant to deal real damage."

Jeno nods. "That's what Chenle said, too. But harmless, I am less willing to agree."

Renjun shakes his head. "Enough about that. The real question is, how did such a simple kiss break the spell?"

"I have zero clue," Jeno deadpans. "If only I knew."

Renjun glares back at him. "That was a rhetorical question. Don't interrupt me. The answer is because both of you like each other, yeah?"

Jeno flinches. Bullseye. But—

"Each other? I mean, I have long come to the terms that I'm hopelessly in love with Jaemin Na, perhaps ever since he stepped foot in the cafe, but he doesn't like me. He kissed me because he was under the spell and saw it as a perfect opportunity to smooch." Jeno's eyebrows furrow, and he resists the urge to run his hands through his hair.

"Keep telling yourself that," Renjun replies.

"If I do that then I'd be delusional."

Renjun groans. “Just ask him out for fucks sake, Jeno. The worst he could say is no.”

Jeno shoots Renjun a look that’s so full of fear that the latter flinches. “Ah yes, but you see, Injun. That would be  _ exactly _ the problem.”

Renjun’s rendered speechless for a full minute. It takes a moment before he recovers from Jeno's sudden outburst. “Well. I know he likes you. Anyone with eyes could see that.”

Jeno crosses his arms, completely unconvinced.

However, Renjun takes a deep breath and says perhaps the wisest thing of all: “You’re right. No one can confirm that. But who cares? Because you will be left in limbo like  _ this _ until you tell him outright.”

  
  


🌥

For the rest of the next week, due to terrible internal conflict and the fact that he won't stop  _ blushing _ whenever he comes too close, Jeno avoids Jaemin to the extreme.

The first few days, Jaemin takes the missing two weeks in his stride, rescheduling his shifts with Renjun and phoning the university to try and make arrangements to catch up with assignments. He bubbles with newfound energy and sparkles with an intensity that blinds the rest of their customers.

Jeno watches as Jaemin blends into the atmosphere like nothing had happened. He, too, tries to forget. But it isn't easy when he can't just erase what had possibly been the best two weeks of his life from his mind. Occlumency is the first thing he's going to take a course on if he ever goes back to school.

Jaemin is still as pretty as he'd been before their two weeks together, and this time Jeno can't tear his eyes away.

  
  


🌥

When Jeno spots Donghyuck approaching him out of the corner of his eye, he inhales deeply before turning to face him.

Donghyuck beats him to it. "Could you just tell Jaemin what happened."

"No."

"Please, please, consider our wellbeing. He's been pestering us nonstop about what happened last week. As your very, very tired best friend, I strongly urge you to come clean and lift him off our backs." Donghyuck reads from his palm and looks up at Jeno.

"I've dealt with Jaemin for two whole weeks on my own. I think you guys can deal with him until he runs out of energy," Jeno states.

Donghyuck shakes his head. "You know what? Fine. I said that for your own good, but that's up to you in the end. How are you so smart, but then when it comes to things like  _ these _ your skull is thicker than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica series?"

Jeno smiles weakly.

  
  


🌥

As Jeno had prophesied, Jaemin eventually stops asking Donghyuck and the rest questions. Seemingly tired of it, Jaemin pauses them completely for a few days before he decides to redirect his attention completely onto  _ Jeno _ .

Suddenly, Jeno understands what Donghyuck must've felt like before. It's exhausting to deflect his constant interrogation tactics (thank Merlin Jaemin's a biochem student, not a criminal law one) and to go the long way round when Jaemin intercepts his route.

Jeno tries his best to maintain his resolve, hoping that the feelings in his chest don't overheat and spill out like the water boiler in front of him is. He snaps out of his third Jaemin-induced reverie and runs to switch off the electric socket.

  
  


🌥

Somehow, no matter what, Jaemin  _ always _ finds his way to Jeno.

For some unknown reason, their shifts align perfectly so that they're completely deserted in the staffroom, left to quietly gather and hang up Valentine's Day decorations in preparation for the big day.

Jeno has nothing to defend his behaviour with. Hence, Jaemin continues to fire a bunch of questions that involve  _ whys _ and  _ hows  _ that Jeno has absolutely no idea how to answer.

The question that recurs the most is: "How'd you break the curse?"

Jeno's tongue dries up for the nth time in three hours. "I don't know either," he says heavily, but it sounds like a fat lie even to his own ears. "You fainted suddenly and I brought you here."

"Liar," Jaemin hisses. "Why won't you tell me? Why won't anyone else tell me?"

Jeno doesn't know how to answer, so he does the most cowardly thing a main protagonist in a romance manga would do and starts to back off. Suddenly, Jeno is emphasising with a lot of the men he had cursed to eternity with demons in the past, but he doesn't quite care anymore. His fight-or-flight meter is currently pointing to  _ flight _ — he doesn't second guess it.

Fingers curl around Jeno's wrist, however, and  _ don't let go _ . It'll be hell and a half to escape now, so he turns around to face Jaemin reluctantly. He's confronted with a very difficult situation.

Jaemin braces one hand on his right hip and blocks the exit to the room with the other. If they were in any other given situation, blood would be rushing to Jeno's face already, but his guards are raised too high for him to process their proximity.

"I wanted to hear it from you."

The gears in Jeno's mind whir to life and grind to a halt almost immediately. "Hear what?"

Jaemin's mouth contorts. "I'll be straightforward. I really, really, like you. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable but I don't particularly care right now, so that's out the window."

There's no magic in Jaemin's voice right now, but Jeno swears that he almost passes out. "You— you  _ what _ ?"

"I wanted to hear what happened directly from you, and  _ oh my god _ , I like you so much—" Jaemin trails off, and to Jeno's absolute horror, a tear rolls down his cheek, followed by another.

"Shit, Jaemin, I'm so sorry, oh my god. Are you okay? Please don't cry." Jeno manages out, wrenching tissues from the nearest toilet roll and thrusting them in Jaemin's direction. The latter snatches them out of his hand and starts dabbing fiercely at his eyes.

"Oh my god, you are the densest person I've ever met, Jeno Lee. Haven't I made it obvious enough that I'm extremely attracted to you? Ever since I saw you that day. Your eyebags were so dark but you were so gorgeous in that uniform. So I searched for excuses to come to the cafe again." Jaemin rambles, pressing a finger against Jeno's lips when he opens his mouth. "Don't interrupt me."

Jeno nods weakly.

"Then that day you came to my house and strolled in and just dropped off food and those books and I really thought you were trying to flirt with me. Until I talked to you for a few hours and realised that you would be very, very difficult to get the message across to." Jaemin inhales and exhales. "That day was the day I started liking you, I think. Properly. Before that, I'd just thought you would be great to make friends with and see how it went. I dug my grave."

Jeno decides that it's probably okay to say something. "I... wasn't trying to flirt. You seemed more tired than I'd ever even imagined you'd be capable of being, so I just wanted to help."

Jaemin laughs bitterly and a little maniacally. "Glad you did that. Actually, no. I wish you'd never done that. You see these tears?" Jaemin lifts a finger to collect a few drops and tilts them in Jeno's direction. "These are because of you. Why are you so frustrating?"

"If I knew how to answer that, I would," Jeno answers, voice small.

"Well. I know that I probably kissed you to break the spell, is that right? And you let me." Jeno flinches, and Jaemin seems to take that as a positive sign. "Bullseye, then. I lied too, I guess. I have a vague recollection of what happened, though it's  _ extremely _ vague. That's why I gave up on asking the rest — because I started to remember and I wanted to hear it from you."

"Ah."

"Yes, ah, indeed. I kissed you when I was touch-starved, and you let me. So now would you let me do it again?"

Jeno nods mutely, incapable of forming a sentence, and in the blink of an eye Jaemin grabbing Jeno's collar and crashing his lips against his.

There's nothing gentle about it; fiery crimson impatience rushing through Jaemin's veins and overflowing into the way their lips mould together so smoothly. Jeno's heart nearly bursts out of his chest with the way Jaemin sneaks a hand around Jeno's waist and pulls him impossibly closer, to the point where he doesn't quite know how his arms get thrown over Jaemin's shoulders and how the edge of the counter digs into his back as Jaemin kisses him into a daze that he'll likely never escape.

Jaemin breaks away from air, and when they lock eyes with each other, Jeno thinks that he's dancing with a blazing column of fire that's so stunningly bright that it takes his breath away. He voices something across those lines, and Jaemin laughs, the uncontrolled sound like a nightingale's melody and the rain that brings about a beautiful rainbow.

Jeno giggles along, shoulders shaking in silent laughter. He's finally reached the end of the rainbow that he's followed for so long.

  
  


🌥

"From this day onwards, Jaemin Na has officially paid back all his debt following the antique vase incident," Jungwoo proudly (sounding rather relieved) declares, touching his wand to the back of Jaemin's palm.

A logo depicting an owl breaks away from his hand and solidifies midair, spinning once — twice — before shattering into a cloud of lavender-scented perfume. Jaemin coughs violently, having inhaled it, but he quickly brushes it off and flashes Jungwoo two thumbs-up.

Jeno weaves his arm through Jaemin's the moment Jungwoo's out of earshot and frowns. "Does that mean you won't be working at the cafe anymore?"

"Indeed. No more midnight shifts for me, thank Merlin." Jaemin hums, in nothing short of pure bliss. He catches the way Jeno deflates and laughs, reaching out his finger to tap Jeno's bottom lip lightly. "Don't worry, Jen. I was a regular customer before I was a part-time employee, remember?"

"Guys," Renjun drawls from the seat next to them. "I consider this unnecessarily traumatic and unfit for Jisung's eyes. Please go somewhere else."

Chenle and Donghyuck nod like bobble heads. Jisung just looks mildly curious.

"Get your own man, Renjun," Jaemin retorts back. Renjun has the shame to look offended before glaring daggers at Donghyuck.

Just to spite them, Jeno flings his arms around Jaemin's neck and kisses him deeply, laughter falling against his lips as Renjun continues to boo them.

The rain stops outside, and a rainbow begins to arch through the clouds.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much to 🦎, ☁️ and 🦨 for beta-ing my work and in such a short time as well!! wouldn't have made it without you three <333 thank u so much for sitting through my shit
> 
> and special mentions to 🌻 who helped me come up with a good portion of the ending too! u r the [thumbs up emoji]
> 
> to the readers: thank you for reading!!! i hope you enjoyed it ^___^ now that reveals are over i'd like to proudly announce that this is my first fic.... so i hope it turned out well!!!
> 
> come find me here: [twt](https://twitter.com/drmverses) [cc](https://curiouscat.me/seodreams)


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